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13 



1h I S T O R Y 



OF 



PENNSYLVANIA HALL, 



WHICH WAS 



DESTROYED BY A MOB, 



On the 17th of May, 1838. 



Enor of opinion may be saltly tolerated, where reason is left free to combat \t."-- Jefferson. 
Is truth more dansrerous than error ? 



PHILADELPHIA: 
P HINTED BY MERRIHEW AND G UNN, 

JVo. 7 Carler''s Mlty. 

1838. 







KnU'rctl aoconling to Uic act of Coogreai, by Sxictsl Webb, in the Clerk's 
Office of the Dbtrjct Court of the Eastern District of Pcnns>iTania. 



i^^ ^'^ 



PENNSYLVANIA HALL 



This beautiful building, which was destroyed by a mob on the night of 
the 17th of the Fifth Month, (May,) 1838, was situated at the south-west 
corner of Delaware Sixth street and Haines street, (between Cherry and 
Sassafras streets,) in the city of Philadelphia. It was about sixty-two feet 
front, by one hundred feet deep ; and forty-two feet from the ground to the 
eaves. The lower story was divided into four stores, fronting on Sixth street, 
witli a neat lecture room, fronting on Haines street, capable of holding 
between two and three hundred persons comfortably seated, also two com- 
mittee rooms, and three large entries communicating with the saloon by three 
stairways, each of which were seven feet in width. 

The second story formed one large saloon, having galleries round three 
sides. At the west end was the forum, on each side of which stood an 
Ionic column, from which sprang an arch, the sofTet or under side whereof 
was divided into panels filled with roses ; over this arch, in large gold letters, 
was the motto — 

"virtue, liberty, and independence." 

Behind the arch was a dome divided into panels, supported by pilasters 
and an entablature of the Grecian Ionic order, — the whole forming a chaste 
and beautiful arrangement. On this forum was a superb desk or altar, with 
a rich blue silk panel ; behind this stood the president's chair ; on each side 
of this was a carved chair for the vice presidents ; next to these were sofas ; 
in front of which stood the secretary and treasurer's tables, with chairs to 
match. All these articles were made of Pennsylvania walnut of the richest 
quality : the chairs were lined with blue silk plush ; the sofas with blue 
damask moreen ; and the tables were hung with blue silk. 

The ceiling of the saloon was formed into one large panel, with coves all 
round the wall ; in the centre of this panel was a ventilator nine feet in 
diameter, having a sunflower in the centre, with gilt rays extending to the 
circumference. In the centre of the flower was a concave mirror, which 
at night sparkled like a diamond. In the corners of the ceiling were four 
quadrant-shaped ventilators of similar construction to that in the centre. 

Over the ventilators were trap doors in the roof, which enabled the au- 
dience to have a constant stream of pure air passing through the house, 
without lowering the windows. 

This Hall, which was brilliantly lighted with gas, formed altogether one 
of the moat commodious and splendid buildings in the city. 



TO THE PUBLIC 



TiiK Managers of ihe Pennsylvania Hall Association, desirous of retaining 
the good opinion of their fellow citizens, notwithstanding the absurd and 
unfounded reports so industriously circulated by the enemies of free dis- 
cussiui), of liberty, and of the rights of man, have concluded to collect 
lofjciher, as far as practicable, all that was said and done in the Pennsyl- 
vania Ilall, during the brief period of its existence, in order that the cool, 
deliberate, reflecting portion of the community, may judge whether the 
Pennsylvania Hall Association did anything that ought to offend any rea- 
sonable person. 

Hy reference to the placard which was posted up throughout the city, it 
will be evident that there was a deliberate, pre-conceived determination on 
the part of the ring-leaders of the mob, to destroy the Hall, without regard 
to what might be said at the dedication. 

Letters similar to the following were addressed to all the orators : — 
To Thomas V. Hunt: 

Esteemed Friend, — In pursuance of a unanimous resolution of the Board 
of Managers of the PtMinsylvania Hall Association, 1 return their thanks to 
thee for thy address upon Temperance, delivered in the late Pennsylvania 
Hall, on the evening of the 14lh insl., and request a copy for publication. 

Respectfully thine, &c., 

Samuel Webb. 

Philmleljj/iia, Fifth Month 24lh, 1838. 

'J'o which Thomas P. Hunt n)ade llie following reply : — 

May 25ih, 1838. 

1*0 Uic Managri-s of tlic FciiiiavUnnia Hall AstocutUon: 

Gentlemen, — In compliance with your request, this day received, I send 
the address on Temperance I delivered in the Pennsylvania Hall, May 
11th. 1H38. 

Permit mc to express my gratification at the invitation I received, to 
deliver an address on Temperance in your Hall. As it was known to vou 
that I was conscientiously opposed to the views of many of the Managers 
of the Hall on the subject ol Abolition, and that I also never had any con- 
nection whatever with that Society, the liberality which extends the invita- 
tion, with the assurance that the Hall shoiiUl be opened to any benevolent 
or moral society, to the Colonization Society, of which I am a firm and 
decided advocate, was as gratifying as it was unusual in these days of bit- 
terness, and of exclusion. 

I regret that the HhU has been destroyed. I despise alike the spirit that 



TO THE PUBLIC. 5 

instigated, and that defends, or justifies, or palliates the shameful, sinful, 
cowardly, brutish deed. May God forgive both, and send a better state of 
feelings and of morals amongst us. 

Respectfully, 

Thomas P. Hunt. 

The Managers have published the above letter from Thomas P. Hunt, 
because it will tend to convince all unprejudiced minds that our Associa- 
tion founded the Pennsylvania Hall on no narrow, sectarian, or party views 
but that it was what it purported to be, a hall for free discussion. And in 
order to make the reader more fully acquainted with the views and objects 
of the Managers and Stockholders, we subjoin a part of the fundamental 
articles of the Association : — 

" It shall require five Managers to form a quorum for the transaction of 
business, who shall meet at least once a month. 

They shall superintend the erection of the building, and have full power 
to make contracts for the use of the same, receive the rents, and after de- 
ducting all necessary expenses, shall divide, semi-annually, the net proceeds, 
or so much thereof as they may deem prudent, among such of the stock- 
holders, as shall have paid all the instalments of their stock, in proportion 
to the amount held by each, and shall keep a fair record of their proceed- 
ings in relation thereto, and submit the same to the stockholders at their 
annual meeting. — But nothing herein contained shall authorize them to rent 
the Saloon for any object subversive of good morals, or in such manner 
as shall not afford reasonable and frequent opportunities for the discussion 
of the subject of Slavery." 

At this time, when a portion of those who formerly professed friendship 
are issuing their disclaimers, when our " prudent friends" are giving unasked 
counsel, and advice suggested by their fears, it is cheering to receive such 
letters as the following, from David Paul Brown, the eloquent orator who 
delivered the first address at the opening of our Hall. 

May 24th, 1838. 
Dear Sir, — I have received your communication of yesterday, apprising 
me of a resolution of the Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall Association, 
whereby they have kindly expressed their approbation of my luimble services 
upon the dedication of their Hall, and requested a copy of my speech for 
publication. I have only to say, that the speech and the speaker are both 
at your service. 

Very truly, yours, 

David Paul Brown, 

Samuel Webb, Esq. 



P E NM N G F T H E H A L L 



On ihe 14th of the Fifih month, (^lay,) 1838, agreeably to public notice, 
the doors of the Pennsylvania Hall were thrown open, and the spacious 
Naloon was tilled with one of the largest audiences ever assembled in this 
city. The President of the Association, Daniel iS'eall, took the chair 
at ten o'clock. 

The Secretary. William Dorsev, then made the following statement : — 

" A number of individuals of all sects, and those of no sect, — of all par- 
ties, and those of no parly, — being desirous that the citizens of Philadelphia 
should possess a room, wherein the principles of Liberty, and £(jiialify of 
Civil liis^hts, could be freely discussed, and the evils of slavery fearlessly 
portrayed, have erected this building, which we are now about to dedicate 
to Liberty and the Rights of Man. The total cost of the building will be 
about 10,000 dollars. This has been divided into two thousand shares of 
twenty dollars each. A majority of the stockholders are mechanics, or 
working men, and, (as is the case in almost every other good work,) a num- 
ber are females. 

The l)uilding is not to he used for .^nti-S/avery purposes alone. It will 
be rented from time to time, in such portions as shall best suit applicants, 
for any pfirpose not of an immoral character. It is called " Pennsylvania 
Ifnll," in reference to the principles of Pennsylvania ; and our motto, like 
that of the commonwealth, is 

" VlRTt E, LinERIV, AND INDEPENDENCE." 

The following letters were then read : — 

Letter of Hon. Francis James, of the Senate of Pennsylvania. 

Harrisbiro, Dec. 22d, 1837. 

Gentlemen, — I received your favor of the 18th inst. yesterday. 

The acceptance of the invitation with which the Managers of the " Penn- 
sylvania Ilall Association" have been pleased to lionor me, circumstances, 
not within my control, oblige me respectfully to decline. But I do so with 
the kindest feelings toward the objects for which the building was erected, 
and to which it is to be dedicated. 

My humble eflorts have been uniformlv directed to the maintenance of 
freeilom of speech and of the press, as well as to the rights of man gene- 
rally ; and I rej(Mce to know thai there is, at least, one house within this 
great common wealth, wherein those rights may be advocated, free from 
interruption. 

Please present my acknowledgments to the Managers of your Association, 
for the honor intended lo be conferred upon me, and accept for yourselves 
and them assurances of my friendship and regard. 

Very respectfully, 

Francis James. 

Me«|-«. Smnuil W ■ tih miuI Win II Sci.It. — ('..ininitlf 



LETTERS READ. 7 

North East, (Pa.) Feb. 5th, 1838. 

Christian Friends and Fellow Laborers, — Yours of the 26th ultimo, has 
just come to hand. Please accept my thanks, and tender them to the Asso- 
ciation for which you act, for the kind invitation you have given me to be 
present at the opening of your Hall, and make an address on the occasion. 

In reply, I can only say that it would afford me much pleasure to attend 
your meeting, but am not yet able to determine whether it will be practicable 
for me so to do or not ; most probably it will not. 

If, however. Providence should open the way for it, I will most gladly 
avail myself of the privilege. At all events, my whole heart is with you in 
this blessed enterprise of mercy. 

Most respectfully. 

Yours in the cause of love, 

William A. Adair. 

Samuel Webb, J. M. Truman, Wm. McKee, Peter Wright, — Committee. 

Peterboro, Dec. 26th, 1837. 

Messrs. S. Webb and Wra. H. Scott. 

Much Esteemed Friends, — Your favor of the 18th instant came to hand 
yesterday. I had, several days before, received the Extra of the National 
Enquirer, containing a very interesting account of the celebration in " the 
Carpenter's Shop," and my whole heart rejoiced in the noble enterprise of 
the stockholders and builders of the "Pennsylvania Hall;" long may this Hall 
stand to testify to the sacred regard for Human Rights in which it originated, 
and to furnish rich gratifications of the mind to the lovers of Free Discussion. 

The honor done me by your Board of Managers is gratefully acknow- 
ledged by me; such, however, are my circumstances, and so pressing are 
the demands on my time, that I cannot accept the invitation " to deliver an 
address" on the occasion of the opening of the Hall. Be assured that I 
should rejoice to be with you — with the friends of the Freedom of Speech, 
and of cherished humanity, on that interesting occasion — but under the 
claims of my business to my time, I find it very difficult to leave home. 
I am, with great regard, your friend, 

Gerrit Smith. 



Alton, March 2, 1838. 

To the Committee of the Pennsylvania Hall Association. 

Gentlemen, — Your favor of January 26th came to hand last week. And 
while I shall ever cherish towards you sentiments of gratitude and respect 
for the honor of your invitation, and the expression of confidence towards 
one as obscure as myself; and although it would be exceedingly gratifying 
to my feelings to be present with you at the opening of the " Hall of Liberty," 
and to add my feeble testimony to yours in favor of the cause of immediate 
emancipation, I regret to be under the necessity of announcing to you that 
circumstances will not permit me to comply with your request. Having 
been absent from my official charge during last spring and summer, it would 
be very improper in the peculiarly arduous and responsible station which, 
in the Providence of God, I am permitted to occupy, to leave for two or 
three months my field of labor. 

Were I to consult my own feelings, merely, I would gladly accede to 
your invitation, and hasten to your city. But greater and paramount duties 
seem to forbid. You will therefore, sirs, accept for yourselves, and your 
honored coadjutors, my warmest thanks ; and for the " caw.te" in which we 



8 KIR^r DAY MORNING SESSION. 

have a common interest, my unfeigned sympathies; and that God Almighty 
may be with you and bless you, shall ever be the prayer of 

Your sincere frirnii. 

I'rederkk W. Graves. 
Samuel Wt-bb, J. M. Trumun, \\'iu. McKee, I'ettT ^Vriglll, — Committic. 



New York, January 3d, 1838. 

Mcisrs. S. WeLb aiid \\ in. II. .■>Kjti: 

My Dear Friends, — I thank you for your kind letter inviting me, in the 
name of the Managers of the Pennsylvania Hal! Association, to deliver an 
address at the opening of liie Pennsylvania Hall for Free Discussion. 

It is now a year and a half since I have been prevented from speaking in 
public, by an afloclioii of the throat, and there is lilllc prospect that I shall 
be able to do so for moiilhs or years, or perhaps ever again, with impunity. 
I'nder these circumstances, it is due to the committee and to the cause, 
re«i)cctful!y to decline your appointment. 

I exuli in the erection of your " Temple of Freedom" and the more, as it 
is the first and only one in a republic of fifteen millions! consecrated to 
Free Discussion and Equal Highls. 

For years they have been banished from our halls of legislation and of 
justice, from our churches, and our pulpits. — It is befitting, that the city of 
Henezet and Franklin should be the first to open an asylum, where the 
hunted exiles may find a home. God grant that your Pennsylvania Hall 
may he free indeed. 

'i'hc empty name is every where, — -free government, free men, free 
speech,y"rrf pcople,yrff schools, and /Vf f churches. Hollow counterfeits, all ! 
Free ! It is the climax of irony, and its million echoes are hisses and jeers, 
even from the earth's ends. Free ! Blot it out. Words are the signs of 
things. The substance has gone! Let fools and madmen clutch at shadows. 
The husk must rustle the more when the kernel and the ear are gone ! 
Rome's luudcst shout for liberty was when she murdered it, and drowned 
its deaih-shrieks in her hoarse hussas. She never raised her hands so high 
to swear allegiance to freedom, as when she gave the death-stab, and madly 
leaped upon its corpse ! and her most delirious dance was among the clods 
her hands had cast upon its coflin ! Free ! The word ami sound are omni- 
present masks, and mockers ! An impious lie ! unless they stand for free 
Lynch Law, and free murder ; for they are free. 

Where are the murderers of I.nvejov ? " Free ;" — going at large with 
law for a volunteer escort, holding up their bloody hands along the streets 
of Alton, and telling how they killed him — their lives virtually insured by 
the olHcial endorsement of the highest legal oHicer in the state. But, I'll 
hold — the times demand brief speech, but mighty deeds. On, my brethren! 
uprear your temple ! 

Your brother in the 

Sacred strife for all, 

Theodore I). Weld. 



BEnroKD, West Chester (.'ounty, (N. Y.,) January ."id. IH.'JS. 
Gentlemen : — It was iKjt till this evening that I had the pleasure of 
receiving your letter of the 18lh ultimo, and the accompanying Fnquirer, 
roiitaining the speeches that were made at the raisins: of the "Pennsylvania 
Hall." Please to present to the Managers my respectful acknowledgments 
for the compliment they have paid me, in asking tne to deliver an address 
bei'ore the Association, at the opening of the building next May, a compli- 
ment the more grateful, from the abundant proof aflbrdcd by the Enquirer, 



LETTERS UEAD. 9 

that the Association contains within itself, fearless, eloquent, and true-hearted 
champions of the rights of man. With such men I would esteem it both 
a pleasure and an honor to co-operate. Whether my engagements in the 
spring will permit me to comply with the wishes of the Managers, is now 
too uncertain to justify me in positively accepting their invitation; should I, 
as is most likely, not be present, I am confident no difficulty will be 
experienced in filling the place so kindly assigned to me, in the proceedings 
of the day. 

Were any proof wanted of the portentous influence of slavery at the 
North, it would be furnished by the astounding fact, that in the cityof Penn, 
and in the shadow of the venerable pile, whence our fathers issued their 
glorious Declaration, it is now found necessary to erect an edifice " in 
which the rights of man may be discussed, and the freedom of speech and 
the press advocated." 

The abolitionists, as a body, have probably never been surpassed, by any 
extensive association, in rectitude of intention, disinterestedness of motive, 
and purity of life. Yet, are they hunted as felons at the South, and at the 
North are abandoned to the mercy of mobs, and, as we are taught by the 
civil authorities at Alton, may be murdered with impunity. 

The present warfare against the freedom of speech, and of the press, 
against the right of petition, and the constitutional powers of our represen- 
tatives in Congress, is waged by the competitors of Southern trade, and 
Southern votes. If these men triumph, our country will be converted into 
one wide field of cruelty, oppression, and anarchy ! The annexation of 
Texas will subject the whole confederacy to the arrogant dominion of the 
slaveholders. Lynch clubs will usurp the seat of justice, and the pistol 
and Bowie knife be substituted for the statute book. Whether they will 
triumph or not, depends, under Providence, on the abolitionists themselves. 
If they consult expediency instead of duty — if they fear man rather than 
God — if they permit sectarian jealousies and political preferences to interrupt 
their harmonious action, their folly and wickedness will probably be pun- 
ished by the extension of slavery, and the loss of their own freedom. But 
if they shall continue to be actuated by the spirit manifested at your meeting 
of the 25th of November — if with unshrinking firmness they shall maintain 
and exercise their rights, the liberty of the republic will be preserved. 

The abolitionists are already, in some of the free states, sufficiently nu- 
merous to control the elections, and probably in all to influence the selection 
of candidates. Let it once be understood, that whatever may be their 
individual political sentiments, they will not vote for any candidate of any 
party who is ready to sell their rights to the slaveholders, and each party 
will take care to present candidates who are in this respect unexceptionable. 

The position now occupied by abolitionists, is one of momentous 
importance and responsibility. If we succeed, the freedom and happiness 
of unborn millions will crown our struggle. It is true, we have much to 
endure, and may be called to endure much more. But we have the sym- 
pathy of the whole Christian world, with the exception of a portion of our 
own countrymen. We have the sanction of our laws, our constitutions, 
our bills of rights, and our Declaration of Independence ; we have the ap- 
probation of our consciences, and the favor of our God. Let us, then, be 
steadfast and unmoveable, and, amid perils and outrages, let us not avenge 
ourselves, but commit our cause to Him who judgeth righteously. 
Accept, gentlemen, the respects of 

Your obedient servant, 

William Jay. 
Messrs. Webb and Scott, — Committee. 

2 



10 FIRST DAY — MORNING SESSION. 

Letter of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens of the State Legislature. 

Gettysburg, May 4ih, 1838. 

Gentlemen : — I have delayed answering your letter of the lOlh of De- 
cember last, until this time, that I might be able to decide with certainty, 
whether I could comply with your invitation, to be present at the opening 
of the " J*cnnsylvania Hall for the Free Discussion of Liberty, and equality 
of Civil Rights, and the evils of Slavery." 

I regret that I cannot be with you on that occasion. I know of no spectacle 
which it would give me greater pleasure to witness, than the dedication of 
a Temple of Liberty. Your object should meet with the approbation of 
every freeman. It will meet with the approbation of eyery man, who respects 
the rights of others, as much as he loves his own. Interest, fushion, false 
religion, and tyranny, may triumph for a while, and rob man of his inalien- 
able rights; but the people cannot always be deceived, and will not always 
be oppressed. 

The slaveholder claims his prey, by virtue of that Constitution whicii 
contradicts the vital principles of our Declaration of Independence. But 
while it remains unchanged, it must be supported. If his heart e.vacls the 
fulfilment of the cruel bond, let him take the pound of llesh, but not one 
drop of blood. This we must yield to existing laws, not to our sense of 
justice. I can never acknowledge the right of slavery. I will bow down 
to no Deity, however worshipped by professing Christians — however 
dignitied by the name of the Coddess of Liberty, whose footstool is the 
crushed necks of groaning millions, and wiio rejoices in the resoundings of 
the tyrant's lash, and the cries of his tortured victims. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

TiiADDEis Stevens. 

Samuel Webb, and olliers, — Committee. 



Washington, January 2d, 1838- 

Dear Sir: — I have had the honor to receive a communication signed by 
yourself and another, a committee in behalf of the Pennsylvania Hall 
Association, requesting me to be present at the opening of the Hall, and 
deliver an address on that occasion. 

In the invii.Tiion thus extended to me, I have an evidence of the confidence 
ol those of my fellow citizens of Philadeljdiia whom you represent, not less 
gratifying than it is unexpected. To be tlius associated, by those who have 
engaged in tlie noble enterprise of erecting a Hall consecrated to free dis- 
cussion, with tlie solemnities of its opening, is an honor whose value can be 
estimated only by that of the noble object with which it is associated — an 
object identified with the dearest rights and highest interests of man in his 
social existence. 

Nothing could give me greater pleasure than to comply with your invita- 
tion ; but my duties as a representative in Congress seem to forbid me the 
gratification. I feel my incompetence to do justice, under any circumstances, 
to such an occasion as that suggested in your letter, but especially amidst 
the various and engrossing duties of the station which my fellow citizens 
have assigned me here. 1 must, therefore, respectfully decline a compliance 
with your invitation. 

He pleased to accept for yourself, and your associate committee, and 
those whom you ropre.'«ent, the assurance of the sincere and respectful 
regard of Your fellow citizen, 

WiLLIA.M SlaDE. 
Mr. S;uiuirl NVcbb. 



LETTERS READ. 11 

Tlie following letter from ex-president Adams was received by the 
audience with much applause : 

Washington, 19th January, 1838. 

Samuel Webb and William H. Scott, — Philadelphia : 

My respected Friends : — I learnt with great satisfaction, by your letter 
of the 18th of last month, that the Pennsylvania Hall Association have 
erected a large building in your city, wherein liberty and equality of civil 
rights can be freely discussed, and the evils of slavery fearlessly portrayed. 

The right of discussion upon slavery, and an indefinite extent of topics 
connected with it, is banished from one-half the states of this Union. It is 
suspended in both houses of Congress — opened and closed at the pleasure 
of the slave representation : opened for the promulgation of nullification 
sophistry ; closed against the question, WHAT IS SLAVERY ? at the 
sound of which the walls of the capitol staggered like a drunken man. 

For this suppression of the freedom of speech, of the freedom of the press, 
and of the right of petition, the people of the free states of this Union (by 
which I mean the people of the non-slaveholding states) are responsible, and 
the people of Pennsylvania most of all. 

Of this responsibility, I say it with a pang sharper than language can 
express, the city of Philadelphia must take to herself the largest share. 
And this consideration would compel me to decline the invitation with 
which the Managers of this Association have honored me, to deliver an ad- 
dress at the opening of the Hall, were it otherwise in my power, as it pro- 
bably will not be, to attend at the time proposed. 

My friends, I have a long-standing, high, respectful, and affectionate 
attachment to the city of Philadelphia, and its inhabitants. It dates from 
the day of the Declaration of Independence, and if I were to address them 
on the opening of your Hall, I should comment upon some of its self-evident 
truths. 

Now a great multitude of the present inhabitants of your city have grown 
sick of the sound of these self-evident truths, and exceedingly adverse to 
hearing any comment upon them. If I should make any practical use of 
my freedom of speech, some would say, he is doling out a farrago of ab- 
stractions. Others, what is the use of commenting upon self-evident truths ? 
Others, — not a few, — would kindle into indignation, and say, he is inter- 
meddling with i\\e J) eculiar institutions of the South; that's unconstitutional! 
What's that to him ? What's that to us ? He's a fanatic, he is an incen- 
diary, he is an abolitionist ! he is attacking the rights of the states, he is 
provoking the people of the South, and, Lord have mercy upon us, they 
will dissolve the Union ! 

All this I could hear and endure with composure, — all this I have heard 
before, and shall hear again. But if, while I should be discoursing, a native 
citizen of Philadelphia should rise, and say, What right have you, sir, to 
come here, and dogmatize with us upon the rights of freedom and the duties 
of freemen ? Is not this the city of William Penn, and do you come here 
to lecture us upon freedom of conscience ? Is not this the city whence 
issued the Declaration of Independence, and do you come to teach us 
the doctrine of inalienable rights ? Have we so far degenerated from the 
virtues of our fathers, that we must go to Plymouth for our political creed ? 
Have we no native sons of our own city, capable of explaining to us the 
principles of human liberty, as well as you? 

My true-hearted friends, I should have no answer, satisfactory to myself, 
to give to such inquiries. 

I rejoice that, in the city of Philadelphia, the friends of free discussion 



12 FIRST DAY MORMXr. SESSION, 

have erected a Hall for ils unrestrained exercise. I know that the people of 
Philailelphia need a voice as of one from the wilderness, to rally thera to the 
standard of human rights, but tlial voice must come from among themselves. 
If there is not one native, I say not of Pennsylvania, but of the city of 
Pliiladelphia who dares to tell you the truth in tones that shall reach to the 
sepulchres of the dead, lock up your Hall on the same day that you shall 
open it, and wait for the appointed time : it will surely come. 

I must apologize to you even for writing to you with so much freedom. 
I hope it may be without oflence, for to avoid that is precisely my reason 
for declining to deliver the address which you invite. Nolliing could 
delight me more than to address the inhabitants of Philadelphia upon the 
opening in their city of a Hall devoted to free discussion, could I speak to 
them my whole mind, without giving to many of them great oflence. — This 
would be imj)ossible. 

It would have been, perhaps, more discreet to answer that, independent of 
all other considerations, my detention here in the discharge of indispensable 
duties, would, in all probability, preclude the possibility of my engaging to 
visit Philadelphia at the indicated lime. I shall, therefore, request you to 
accept that as my answer, and to consider the remnant of this letter only as 
a testimonial of my respectful sensibility to your invitation, and of my 
fervent wishes that the Pennsylvania Hall may fidfil its destination, by de- 
monstrative proof, that freedom of speech in the city of Penn shall no longer 

be AN ABSTRACTION. 

I am faithfully your friend, 

John QriNCY Adams. 

December 2.')th, 1837. 
Dear Sirs: — 1 have just returned from New York, which must account 
to you for not having earlier answered your letter of the 18th, on the subject 
of delivering llie Jlrst address in the Pennsylvania Hall. Hy the first 
address, I presume you mean a dedicatory address. 

For some time past, I have invariably declined applications that might 
be calculated to take any portion of my time from my profession. But I 
have always said, and now say again, that I will fight the battle of liberty 
as long as / have a shot in the locker. Of course, I will do what you 
require. 

Yours truly, 

David Patl Brown. 
». \\M> uiiiJ \Vii> II. Scott, Eaqs. 



DAVID PAUL BROWN'S ORATION. 



1 AM here to redeem my pledge — a pledge as freely given, as it shall be 
fearlessly redeemed. Here in the very centre of fifteen millions of chartered 
freemen ; here in Pennsylvania, the brightest star in the republican con- 
stellation ; here, where, in seventeen hundred and seventy-six Freedom was 
proclaimed, and in seventeen hundred and eighty Slavery was abolished, as 
priest of this day's sacrifices, I solemnly dedicate this temple to Liberty. 

Upon such an occasion, what can more obviously furnish the subject for 
a discourse than the divine attributes of that tutelar divinity, to whom we 
thus profess our devotion. Liberty, then, my fellow citizens, is the theme 
upon which I design to dwell, — a theme to every American heart 

" Far, far more precious, dem*, dian life." 

The Liberalia were certain festivals or games of Rome, wherein slaves 
were permitted to speak with freedom ; and all men temporarily assumed, 
at least, the appearance of independence. This, therefore, may be con- 
sidered the Liberalia of a country that promises to rival Rome in her most 
palmy state. Among the hundreds of thousands of the heathen deities 
none were worshipped with more unqualified devotion than Liberty, by the 
renowned nations of antiquity ; and none assuredly present stronger claims 
to preside over the destinies of a virtuous republic. 

Liberty is like life, to be enjoyed, not to be defined ; and it is improved 
in proportion as it is diffused, — in other words, the more general it is, the 
more perfect. This idea, is aptly illustrated by contrasting the freedom of 
a monarchy or a despotism, with that of a republic. The monarch or the 
despot enjoys entire freedom, subject not even to the restraint of the laws ; 
but the very excess of his immunities is the result of a diminution of the 
rights and just privileges of his subjects. An overgrown power in indivi- 
duals is like a resistless determination of the blood to the brain, or to the 
heart, or to any other great vital organ of the human frame — it always puts 
in jeopardy, and often destroys, the entire physical system. Whereas, 
when the blood is equally diffused, a healthy tone and perfect equilibrium 
are secured, which impart energy and life to all the functions and faculties 
of both body and mind. Liberty is not matter of indulgence ; the moment 
it is, it ceases to possess its essential qualities. Freedom loses its character, 
when it is dependent upon the will, either of the few, or the many. In 
order to its existence it must be indepeniient of all contingent influence ; 
it is in vain that the trumpet sounds ; in vain that we applaud the bright 
eyed goddess to the very echo that doth applaud again, if the voice of 
sorrow, and the clanking of chains are heard in the very heart of our re- 
joicings. 

History, in her numerous examples, abundantly shows that, in proportion 
as vice and corruption encumber the earth, Liberty sinks in the esteem of 
the people, until, at length, she is either voluntarily relinquished, or so 
vitiated in principle, as to lose her divine attributes, and become only 



14 FIRST DAY MORNING SESSION. 

aiiolher and more specious name for licentiousness and crime. ^Villlout 
Liberty, and her attendant blessings, life itself is a burden and the world a 
waste: 



For wliat is life? 



Tb not to » ;ilk about, and draw Iresli air 
From time to tinii-, Hiid raze u|><vi tlii' sun. 
Tis to be (rvv. W'lieii libtrlv is gone 
Life grows iiiiiiiiJd, Miid luis lost its relish." 

It was, my fellow citizens, for liberty thus characterized and understood, 
that the Hanidens strufjtfled, and the Sidneys died; it was for such liberty, 
tliat the richest blood of all this land flowed freely, during the doubtful 
periods of our Revolution ; it was for such liberty, that your Washington 
unfurled the slar-spanjjled banner of hi.s country, and redeemed the outraged 
rights of sulffring millions from the very throat of death. Tiiat liberty 
has been bequeathed to you as an inestimable legacy, 

'♦ O ! let it ncTcr perish in your liands, 
But piously tninsinil it to your children." 

Having, as becomes the lime, hastily glanced at the nature of liberty, 
let us refer to the character of slavery, in order that by the depth of its 
shadow we may brighten the lights of our favorite picture. 

What, then, is slavery .' — " Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, slavery, 
still art thou a bitter draught. And although thousands in all ages have 
been made to drink of thee, thou art no less bitter on that account." 

8uch was the sentiment of one of the most distinguislied of the literati 
of the last century ; and like all sentiments that have their foundation in 
nature, it continues to be as applicable to the present age, as to the past. 
Absolutely, it is most true; yet it is, nevertheless, in its relative bearing and 
etfecls, liable to be m<tdified, and extended, accordinsr to the various condi- 
tions of men. Even al)ject slavery, among those who at best enjoy but a 
(jualilied freedom, is less irksome, less repugnant to the heart of man, than 
qualified slavery, when suffered by those who are surrounded by all the 
ilelights and indulgences of rational liberty. This is like adding the lonncnts 
of Tantalus to those of Ixion. 

The enjoyments of human life, are almost always comparative. Where 
tliere are no sovereigns, there are no subjects, — where there are no despots, 
there should be no slaves, — and where there are no slaves, there can be no 
despots. If this doctrine l)e sound, most melancholy, indeed, must be the 
condition of the bondman with us ; as wherever he turns his dejected eye, 
he is referred lo the true measure and majesty of man. He beholds around and 
about him, thousands of chartered monarclis, hailing with loud acclaim at 
each return tlie anniversary of their liberty, and affording the best assurance 
of its perpetuity by their love and gratitude for its origin. 

Thus surrounded, what is there to endear life to a slave, or render death 
appalling? He has no consolations in himsell", or in his relatives. His 
wife, his pan-nts, his children, all partake of his condition, all serve to 
render the weight of his burden more intolerable. Kven hope, itself, the 
very pride and stay of the human heart, — the last sad solace of aflliction, — 
is denied lo him. And ambition, without which man is but a kneaded clod, 
either never glances into his benighted mind, or, if it should, it is like the 
lightning in the midnight storm, serving only lo make the gloom more 
terrific, the darkness more intense. Moral or intellectual improvement, 
without ulterior views to freedom, instead of being blessings as they were 
designed to be, are luit superadded curses and atllictions. 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 15 

In justice, however, we must say, that these are penalties that slaves are 
rarely condemned to endure. Whatever tends to improve the heart or the 
mind of man, while it certainly increases his sources of gratification, so long 
as he walks freely and erectly in the likeness of his Creator, serves only to 
aggravate his sufferings, when reduced below his natural level and condemned 
to a state of vassalage or bondage. In his wife, he sees a joint sharer in 
his shame ; in his children, he contemplates the inheritors of his disgrace, 
and thus sympathetically suffers even beyond the grave ; in his parents, he 
beholds the involuntary authors of all his misery, — and, while he groans and 
sweats under a weary life, at times, even rebels against the too partial 
decrees of high Heaven itself. Still, if this lamentable condition of the 
slave contribute to the melioration or rational enjoyment of the free, 
although, certainly, there can be no justification for it, the account of good 
and evil may, when politically adjusted, stand nearly balanced, and in the 
equipoise, the great interest of the nation may remain essentially unim- 
paired and unaffected. 

Are, then, the free benefited by the existence of slavery among them ? 
This is a grave question, and must be gravely considered. An illustrious 
statesman and orator of the British House of Commons has declared, that 
the people of the South are much more strongly, and with a higher and 
more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those of the North ; as in such 
a people the haughtiness of domination, combined with the spirit of free- 
dom, fortifies it and renders it invincible. 

Time has lamentably shown, that the most distinguished individuals have, 
from that very distinction, often given currency to sentiments of the most cor- 
rupt and pernicious tendency. In the foppery and vanity of chosen expres- 
sion, in the fervor of poetical fancy, in the ardor of animated debate, when 
selfishness and success were the prime objects, the rights of thousands have 
been often sacrificed to swell the triumph of a well turned period. 

I agree that the flame of liberty burns more brightly in the region of slaves, 
as the moon beams more brightly through a thunder-cloud ; not that she 
repletes her waning face from the storms and tempests by which she is 
surrounded, but because her charms are presented in bolder and in prouder 
relief, than when she silently " wheels her pale course" through the mild 
cerulean, while every planet participates in her majesty and glory. Cer- 
tainly there is no greater devotion to liberty, than among the inhabitants of 
the South ; but it is peculiar and exclusive liberty; the liberty that they 
themselves enjoy, and which is enhanced, upon the principles adverted to, 
by the very destitution, the deplorable condition of those whom they 
daily contemplate. Like the green spots of the arid desert, liberty, with 
them, looks more lively and more lovely, from the barren and desolate 
scenes by which it is encompassed. 

There is a vast difference between a professed devotion to liberty, and the 
establishment of those just, fundamental principles, upon which alone 
liberty can be secured. Slavery is not simply to be deplored as respects 
the slave, nor as regards the odium which it necessarily attaches to the 
character of a free government, but from its obvious and natural tendency 
to imbue the minds of the holders of slaves, unconsciously, if you please, 
with lofty and aristocratical notions. From having been accustomed to place 
the foot upon the necks of slaves, they may next audaciously attempt to 
trample upon the sacred and invaluable rights of freemen. The cruelty of 
Nero was first exercised upon a fly; it was matured in the wanton slaughter 
of his fellow men. Pride and luxury are always dangerous to a republic ; 
but no pride is so dangerous as that which arises from lording it over our 



16 FIRST DAV MORNING SESSION. 

own species; — it mailers noi how limiied may be the scale, — tlie moment 
we rise above our fellow crealures, we swell beyond our naiural and legi- 
timate proportions, and in llie unjust extension of our own rights, unjustly 
limit and restrain the rights of others. Each successive generation, cradled 
under the influence of accumulated prejudice, and inhaling the tainted gale of 
tyranny in every breath, at last seems to claim a share in the divine right 
of kings, to feller and destroy, and wields the iron sceptre with a truly legal, 
though unlineal hand. Can this be said to be consistent with a republican 
principle .' — with liberty and equality ? — with the boasted charier of our 
rights f — with the happiness or welfare of the government.' — with our 
duties to this world, or our responsibilities to the next ? 

But this is not all. While they profess to stand above the unhappy slave, 
in superiority of political rights, the inlluence of slavery exercist's an im- 
mense moral power over them. They see about them a herd of unenlightened 
blacks, with none of the restraints of morality, religion, or education, — none 
of the rewards of virtue to hope for, — none of the punishments of crime to 
fear; giving reins to the most unrestrained animal propensities, and reducing 
the immortal cliaracter of man below the level of mere brutish instinct. 
What will be the effect of haliiljal intercourse or community with a society 
of this grade ? I mean the etfect upon the whites ? The obvious result is 
that for the overweening pride and power which slavery imparts to the 
master, it deprives him of most of those valuable qualities which alone can 
render pride excusable or jiower tolerable. 

But why should we dwell any longer upon this branch of our subject ? 
That slavery is an evil, all nature cries aloud. It is written as a curse in the 
very consciences of men. And really it is a matter of mingled horror and amaze- 
ment, notwithstanding this, to find some reverend and learned gentlemen, — 
fathers of the church, professed followers of the meek and lowly Saviour, 
avowed preachers of peace and good will to men, — attempting to justify it 
by references lo the Bible. They have, it is true, succeeded in showing 
that there were slaves in the earliest ages, and that the Deity endured this 
outrage upon his own image. Why, they could claim a prescriptive right 
for all oilier sins, upon exactly the same ingenious plea, because they, also, 
have existed from the period of the first fall. What reflecting man dare 
speak of the sacred Scriptures, and sanction slavery at the same time ? It 
is blasphemous. The fastest friends of slavery should shrink from the 
Bible, as from a sentence of condenuialion ; and yet, wonderful to relate, 
some of the very advocates for freedom, by way of sugaring the bitter pill 
of emancipation, and adapting it to the palate of the South, must, forsooth, 
be peering and prying into the mysteries of the Old Testament, for the 
very laudable purpose of excusing this most flagitious offence in the eyei 
of Ciod and man. 

Others of our friends, and well-meaning friends, loo, deem it necessary, 
strange as it may seem, to resort lo the same oracular source, to show that 
raan, whatever might be his complexion, was never designed by the Deity 
to be converted into a beasi, however his crimes and his sinful aj>peliles 
may have degraded him, at times, to a level with the irrational creation. 
What arguments can be required on such a subject? Why ask if you are 
by nature free ? Why attempt to prove it ? Is not y«»ur charter written 
upon your hearl-s with the very finger of the Deity .' Why ask whether 
y«>u alone are prescriptive and anointed freemen '. Your boasted Declara- 
tion, or Bill of Rights, handed down to you by your great political apostles, 
and forming your political creed, if higher authority were wanting, declares 
all men rqunl, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 17 

among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Tlie question, 
then plainly resolves itself in this, Are slaves men, or not? 

Slavery, we say, is an unquestionable evil. How, then, shall that 
evil be removed ? That involves the great difficulty. By restoring the 
slaves to freedom. This is my broad position, and I am neither to be 
driven, nor seduced from it. The manner is a secondary consideration. If 
the bondage be unlawful or unjust, then should it not be continued. The 
slaveholders say that the slaves can never be admitted to an equality of political 
rights, — and they further say, they will free them in their own time. We 
answer, restore them to their natural rights, and name your time; but let 
it be in time, and not in eternity . 

The colonizationists, our sometime cousins, seem to join in the notion 
of natural inferiority on the part of the blacks, and the impolicy of their 
liberation at home ; but advocate their right to freedom, provided they will 
consent to deportation; and justify this apparent inconsistency, by alleg- 
ing it is only in this way that the North and the South can be brought to 
unite in the liberation of slaves. The Abolition Society, though wholly 
devoted to the melioration of the condition of the blacks, manifests its power 
rather in its accumulated moral influence, than by any direct and urgent 
application of political means calculated directly to release them from their 
thraldom ; the Anti-Slavery Society boldly denounces slavery as a national 
curse, — adopts means for its immediate emancipation, — denies that freedom 
should depend upon expatriation, — and pronounces colonization, in this 
respect, to be actually conducive to slavery. They are zealous, it is true, 
but what great work was ever accomplished without zeal? Yet with all 
their zeal, — founded, as it is, in the purest and least questionable philan- 
thropy, — how preposterous it is to charge them with moral treason against 
the Constitution, — with cruel and bitter hatred and malignity,— a design to 
foment a servile war in the South, — to break up the Union, and to shed their 
brother's blood. Yet of all this, and much more, do they stand accused. 
And here publicly, in their behalf, as patriots and as Christians, that charge 
is indignantly denied and repelled. Moral treason! for what? for the pur- 
pose of suppressing immorality? Admirable philosophy! Then your 
temperance societies, — your Bible societies, — your missionary societies, — 
ay, your sacred temples of worship, consecrated to an All-Wise and 
Almighty Being, according to this doctrine, are all founded in moral 
treason! for the object of all these is the suppression of vice, and the pro- 
motion of the temporal and eternal happiness of man. If this be treason, 
treason is a virtue. But it is said, that the professors of this doctrine, are 
new men, forsooth! and, like the disciples and apostles, that they are un- 
known to fame ; while the only dispute, among their assailants seems to 
be which is the most of a patriot or a patriarch. Suppose we concede both 
to them; why, then, certainly, they can rely upon their own intrinsic merit, 
without conjuring up these red rags, these bloody phantoms, and all the 
horrors of civil or servile war, to fright the land from its propriety. Our 
motto is, " Our country, — our whole country, — one and inseparable, — 
now and for ever." And I trust I speak the sentiment of every one who hears 
me, when I say, that, notwithstanding the abhorrence in which slavery 
is, and ever ought to be held by the free states, still, if — as has been indus- 
triously suggested — the only choice were between that evil and a total 
dismemberment of the Union, we should undoubtedly and promptly prefer 
the former ; yet, in so doing, it is possible we should be governed rather by 
a tender regard for ourselves and brethren, than by a respect for posterity. 
Nevertheless, it becomes us to enlist and to exert all lawful means to avoid 

3 



18 YlRa't DAY MORNING SESSION. 

even the lesser evil ; provided it can be done without encountering the 
greater. If we cannot effj-ct a radical cure, why let us at least endeavor to 
alleviate the distress by a^suasives, rather than increase it by irritation. 
The controversy in which we are now engaged, ought to be considered a 
friendly, a fraternal struggle, intended to benefit, and not to destroy; to propi- 
tiate, and not to agtjravate ; to soothe, and not to terrify. Depend upon it, the 
alternative is not what they woidd have us to believe it. \N hy t^hould the as- 
perities of the respective states be sharpened or their motives impugned? Why 
should they be heralded to the lists by angry dis^pulants, armed at all points 
for un8|)aring war? It is dangerous to familiarize the mind to such un- 
holy thoughts, 'i'hey are unworthy of llie cause ; lliey are unworthy of 
us; th«'y increase by indulgence, and may at length produce those evils which 
at first they only threatened. Evil conceits are the parents of crime; from 
being familiar, they at length become practical, and from being practical, 
they may at last appear laudable. Their encouragement is dangerous. 
Their expression often treasonable. Nor are our fears and foret)odings 
more fatal to our tranquillity than threats. These breed ill blood amongsi 
us ; they exclude the genial light of reason from our councils, and enkindle 
in its place the devouring flame of dissension and of discord, of hatred and 
revenge. If they fail, the wounds of disappointment rankle in the heart; 
if they succeed, it is too freijuently by extorting from our fears or affections 
what should spring only from our judgments and our justice. 

The weakness of that argument, may always fairly be suspected, that thus 
addresses itself to the passions, and not to the understandings of men. Let 
us, therefore, dismiss all such unsocial and improper influence from our 
minds, while we candidly and dispassionately investigate the merits of this 
question. 

First, then, is the abolition of slavery expedient? Morality approves 
it — religion approves it. These, even in every political disc\ission, are 
towers of strength; but when it shall be perceived, that, independent of 
both, policy sanctions it, nothing will remain to be said, — our work is 
accomplished, and we rest from our labors. Morality and religion imply 
expediency, and it is, therefore, only necessary that we should look to the 
objections urged against it. Some of those have been already noticed; the 
others, which are prominent, let us briefly consider. 

It is said to be inexpedient, because it will produce civil war ; and this is 
said by those who threaten such war. It would be much easier to show 
that the threat is inexpedient. This is to render abolition impolitic, by the 
mere determination to resist it ; it might as well be said that our blessed 
religion is inexpedient, because infidels will rail and will not believe! Like 
the adder they will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he never 
so wisely. This is the same argument that was used against the tarifl', and 
it was said that thousands of bayonets bristled in its support, — the same 
argument that was used against the restrictions upon Missouri, — the same 
objection that is resorted to upon every question ; and, allow us to observe, 
it is the most dangerous argument that can be adopted, because it is ad- 
dressed to the fears, and not to the reason of man. Threats like these, 
however, from being familiar, have long since ceased to be terrible. They 
can excite no other feelings than those of regret, that our Southern brethren, 
after having been so often foiled in similar calculations, should still remain 
so incorrigibly weak, in spile of experience, as to dream of controlling 
or even influencing the free states, and the friends of freedom every where, 
by these air-drawn daggers. The ailvocates for liberty are to be reached only 
through their reason, — they take no counsel from their passions in national 
discussions. Satisfy them that the encouragement of slavery, or even its 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 19 

toleration, can possibly be productive of any beneficial, moral, or political 
result; satisfy them that it would not be, in its fairest aspect, an indelible 
stain upon our national character, and a daring outrage against high Heaven, 
and its continuance will no longer be resisted. But this gasconading system 
never will succeed ; it never should succeed. Like all other evils, it will 
increase with indulgence, until, at length, every question, — whatever may 
be its importance, — will be decided, not with a due regard to its intrinsic 
merits, or the general advantage of the country, but solely from a disposition 
to conciliate the refractory, and preserve unimpaired the tranquillity of the 
government. 

Secondly, they say that, by the articles of confederation, the property of 
the slaveholder in the slave was ratified and confirmed; that, like Shylock, 
they hold the bond for the pound of flesh. 'Twas dearly bought — 'lis 
theirs — and they will have it. 

Now, without contending that no legal concession is binding, whatever 
shape it may assume, that is opposed to the law of nature and of God, we 
may be allowed to remark that, if, as we are assured, paradoxical as it may 
seem, the South is desirous of being relieved from the curse of slavery, and 
the only question is as to the manner and result, — we cannot understand 
how they can consistently contend for the continued entailment of this curse, 
whatever may have been its ratification. It seems, that, rather than escape 
from the impending horrors of a servile war, they would encounter the 
still greater horrors of a civil war. If they suppose we would subject them 
to either, they mistake us utterly; we do not ask to add to their afflictions, 
we pray only to be permitted to relieve them, — to relieve them in a manner 
most salutary and effective. We suffer in their sufferings, as co-members 
in the great national family, — and we shrink from, while contemplating, 
that wretched empyricism that directs all its efforts towards healing the 
skin, while the heart is in decay. They deem this sympathy obtrusive; 
they say, we will relieve ourselves, in our own way. Is it, then, proper 
that a patient, with a fever fit upon him, should be permitted to prescribe 
his own medicines ? to abjure his physician, and to disdain the advice of 
his family and friends? Will you not at least listen to us ? Your interests 
are ours — your dangers are ours — we flourish or perish together : and we 
here avow, whatever may be our efforts, stimulated by a sense of duty for 
the emancipation of the slave, we are mainly influenced by a liberal and 
affectionate regard for you. Do you not perceive that, if you are sincere in 
the professed desire to shake off this burthen, there is no time like the 
present? — that its weight accumulates with every hour, and that, when at 
last you are crushed and crippled under it, it will be entirely too late for 
that vigorous exertion which is essential to the removal and expulsion of 
the evil. We are prepared to aid you now in any rational system of eman- 
cipation. But do not delude yourselves. Self-delusion upon this subject 
is worse than death. Do not, like the monster-monarch, amuse yourselves 
with performing the captivating tune of Liberia upon your new fangled fiddles, 
while your Rome is burning. Instead of spending our lives in cold 
debate, let us, like a band of brothers, rush to the rescue of the captive, and 
we must succeed. Or if we fail, it is consolatory to reflect, that in great 
attempts 'tis glorious e'en to fail. 

The emancipation of slaves cannot be brought about by the free states 
alone. The Southern states must unite with them. The influence of the 
Northern states, however, will be felt. The influence of public opinion, 
which is as broad and general as the casing air, will also in time be acknow- 
ledged. That public opinion is at once the parent and offspring of free 
discussion, of an untrammelled press, — and aided and sustained by these, it 



20 FIR-T I>AV MortMNG SESSION*. 

must finally prevnil. Almost all that is necessary, in order to insure in tlie 
result total emancipation, is, as has been said, to admit that man is not mere 
properly. 'I'his piinriple lies at the very root of the evil complained of, 
and yet its proof neillier requireiJ, nor admits of argument ; and to attempt 
any would be disgraceful, and almost impious. To deny it is to relinquish 
the charier of our own liberty. And yut our adversaries would, at least, 
practically allect to deny it. The slave has no civil rights. He cannot 
marry ; — the j)artner of his bosom, therefore, is a concubine. His children 
have no inherilable blood, — in technical lansuage they arc nullitts Jilius ; 
and what is worse, ihey are the properly of the master. The slave can 
ac(|uire no estate, real or personal. His acquisitions are his master's. The 
slave cannot lesiily : nor can slaves testify for him. Personal outrage, there- 
fore, and even murder, may be commitied, and are committed with impunity. 
Of course, as the sanciiiv of marriage is disregarded, all marital rights are 
despised. Amalgamalion anil procreation are rendered sources of profit and 
trali'ic. F.diication is expressly forbidden. Religious improvement is dis- 
countenanced, as at variance with the exercise of the will of the master. 
And yet with all these enormities existing in the very heart of our glorious 
republic, the merciful and bountiful Creator still lavishes his blessings upon 
us. The rain still descends upon the evil and the good, the just and the 
unjust. But how long, (3 ! my fellow citizens, shall these evils be endured ? 
How long shall the tluinders of Omnipotence be stayed ? How long shall 
reiribuiion be suspended I Shall we presume upon the forbearance of the 
Almigliiy ? iShall we provoke the red right arm of vengeance ? Is this 
the requital for our own deliverance from a foreign yoke ? Is this the 
redemption of our own national pledge for the freedom and equality of 
man ? Benefits are not always blessings, however : alllietions are not 
always curses, though they may sometimes appear so in the views of finite 
man. Blessings unmerited are but a reproach to their possessor. Aflliclions 
undeserved lose hr>lf their poignancy in the consciousness of virlue. Men 
antl nations are only supremely wretched, when the punishments they endure 
are the just reward of their transgression ; when they have sinned against 
light and love ; when by their own examples they have taught bloody 
instruction, which, being taught, returns to plague the monitor. Then, then, 
it is, that like the rebel angels, they behold 

•' Siill ill tlic lowest (Icfp 
A li)w<r <lcfj>, tluit tliifati-niiig to ilcvoiir lliein, 
OjKMis « iili-. — to wliicli the lull tiny sufilr 
Stviiis a liL'avcn." 

It is, 1 say, with nations, as it is willi men. Justice must have sway. 
Trulh must prevail. 'I'his nation is the nation of my l)irth and afiection ; 
but she has a fearful score to settle f«)r her national iniquities. A score 
which shoidd terrify into reform and repentance, while she cuntemplales 
the fate of ancient stales tliat have llDurished and perished. The oppres- 
sion of the Africans, the perserulion of the Indians, the violation of her 
pledges, tlie contempt of her treaties, ihe substitution of power for right, 
the utter disreiiard of those virlues which alike sustain men and governments : 
all these may be prosperous for a time, but if there be an all-wise and all- 
just Power, — and who dare doubt it, — they must not, and they cannot come 
to good. • 

I regret even incidentally to institute, in this respect, a comparison between 
our beloved country and the nations of Europe. Look at Great Britain, 
the queen of nations. Surpassing all Greek and all Koman fame ; triumph- 
ing over intestine divisions and foroi<rn foes ; — cemenled, united, and per- 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATIOX. 21 

petiiated by an existence of nearly one thousand years. What a glorious 
spectacle does she exhibit to an admiring world, by her devotion to freedom ; 
not to her own freedom alone, but to that of mankind. In comparison with 
this great object, her hundreds of millions are but dust in the balance. 
Justice is a much surer foundation for national prosperity, than wealth. 
That which is unquestionably right, and which no man can deny, she 
resolves shall be expedient, and accordingly performs. Who can doubt 
the result, if there be reliance on Heaven. If the sacred rights of man be 
dear in the sight of his Creator, the performance of a lofty, moral, and 
religious duty, like this, might almost make atonement for centuries of 
national crime. But not to look to the settlement upon the book of eternal 
life, how stands the account upon the ledger of this world ? Place the 
hundred millions on the debit, and the thousands of liberated and grateful 
slaves to the credit of this great people, — and the balance in their favor, is 
an immortality of fame, and an eternity of hope. How is it, alas ! with 
us ? We not only withhold our treasures from a similar philanthropic 
scheme, — we not only withhold our approbation from it, — but we daily 
make laws against, we impede and resist it in every aspect it presents. We 
forbid its discussion ; we punish and destroy its advocates ; and while we 
admit it to be a curse, we hug it to our bosoms, and console ourselves for 
these absurdities by proclaiming liberty to all ! and vaunting that we are the 
only enlightened republic upon the habitable globe. Admirable consistency ! 
Unparalleled humanity ! We are told, however, that true as all this may be, 
Great Britain is entitled to less praise, at least for her magnanimity, and we 
should be liable to less censure, as slavery was introduced into this country, 
originally, by England herself. If unwillingly continued, this looks like an 
excuse. The British system of taxation was also introduced : — did we 
submit to it, or have we imitated it ? We were able to break our own fet- 
ters, but we are unable or unwilling to break the fetters of others. We 
justify our vices by those of the mother country, while we refuse to emulate 
her virtues in the liberation of our victims. Reformation from sin is more 
glorious than never to have fallen ; because it is easier to avoid guilt, than 
relieve ourselves from its toils ; the honor is therefore proportioned to the 
difficulties encountered. Great Britain has sullied her national fame, it is 
true ; but years of practical penitence have burnished her escutcheon, and 
tears of gratitude from those whom she has emancipated and relieved, have 
washed away the odium that stained and disgraced her history. She has 
made her atonement, — where is ours ? 

If the curse of slavery were no greater than it proves to the slaveholders 
themselves, it were well to abolish it. If it were no greater than to produce 
the heart-burning and bickering which we daily witness, it would be well to 
abolish it. We are but one family, locally divided, but still allied by blood. 
Our brethren ask us why we interfere ; and say they have a right to do as 
they please with their own. They have no such right. This is not a con- 
federation of sovereign states. 

The states have a separate government, as the stars have a separate go- 
vernment, but they are all tributary to the great plan of the Creator ; and so 
is it within the several states. Every man has the absolute right to his own 
house, but he has no right by setting fire to it, to subject the adjoining pro- 
perty of his neighbors to loss or to peril ; and he is liable to be punished 
for so doing. The law gives them the right, as they say, to hold their slaves. 
But when it is obvious that, as the result of this privilege, the entire Union 
is subjected in the result to probable injury, it becomes a matter of deep 
concernment to us, as well as to them. And we should be wanting in duty 
to ourselves and brethren, did we not endeavor to avert it, by endeavoring 



22 FIRST DAV MORMSO SESSION. 

t(i convince them of the impolicy of its continuance. We are tolil, however, 
this must not be. We are enthusiasts, and must not be allowed to breathe 
an objection against their anointed and prescriptive right. They say we 
are enthusiasts, — fanatics is the favorite word. What is an enthusiast? 
One elevated in fancy and exalted in ideas ; alTected by religious frenzy : 
we cannot either confess or retort the charge. Are we mad, because we 
say slavery is an evil ? They admit it, and prove it daily, by iheir ill-dis- 
guised fears. Are we mad, because we say it should be abolished without 
delay ? Then were Hurke and Sheridan, Pitt and Fox, and Wilberforce, 
and all the eminent statesmen for the last century, mad — for they have pro- 
rlai(ncd the same thing. Are we mad when we speak with indignation of 
the wanton imprisonment of C'randall, and the murder of Lovejoy, in terms 
of uninititjaied horror and detestation .' An impartial world joins in the 
sentinient, and justice and posterity will ratify it. Are we mad, when we 
express our determination to assemble upon our own soil and express our 
opinions freely, under our constitutional right, in respect to this or any other 
national evil. 

We do not threaten secession from the South, if they do not conform to 
our views. We do not attempt intimidating them with nullification, if they 
refuse to conform to our views. We do not instruct or authorize our repre- 
sentatives to bluster or bully them into our measures. We pursue the even 
and direct tenor of our way, to the great object of emancipation, — unseduced 
by blandishments, and undismayed by threats. We are not opposed to our 
Southern brethren; — we desire to serve and to aid them, — we desire to agree 
with them, — I)ut, like spoiled children, they will have the rattle, let it cost 
what it may ; and the more we reason with them, the more they are intlamed 
in their desire. 

Fanaticism ! Were our forefathers fanatics when they declared all men 
equally free and independent ? Was Washington a fool or a fanatic, when, 
on his dying bed, he declared all his slaves free .' Was JetlVrson a fanatic 
when he exclaimed, " I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is 
just ; that his justice cannot sleoj) for ever ; that considering numbers, nature, 
and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange 
of situation, is among possible events ; thai it may become probable by 
supernatural interference. The Almighty has no attribute which can take 
side with us in such a contest ?" Were the parliament of (Jreat Britain 
fanatical, when they appropriated twenty million pounds sterling to the libe- 
ration of the slaves in their dependencies, and secured to themselves im- 
perishable national glory at the expense of their treasury ? If these be 
fanatics, how glorious is fanaticism ! All reform, all improvements, have 
ever been thus encountered, — have ever been thus exposed and assailed. 
When the question is between fanaticism and impiety, we should not long 
hesitate which to choose. Look to the origin and course of Christianity, — 
look to its bright dawning over a benighted world — look to its glorious 
strujjgles through seas of blood — look to its urie.irthly Founder, and iis 
sainted martyrs, — what were they all ? The world proclaimed them all to 
be fanatics, enthusiasts, incendiaries, traitors. As such they were biilleted, 
reproached, and reviled, condemned and crucified. It is the slang of this, 
as it was of that dny. The very men who use it, attach no definite notion 
to it. It is a term of reproach — a term ailopted to raise a sort of hue and 
cry against principles which can rationally neither be disputed nor resisted. 
Was Crandall a fanatic, because bad men consigned him for months to prison, 
without an ollVnce ? Was his sister a fanatic, because she deemed it her 
duty to impart instruction to her colored fellow-creatures ? Were the courts 
and juries fanatics, by whom after long sullering, they were acquitted and 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 23 

discharged ? I absolve our adversaries from the imputation of fanaticism. 
Let them defend themselves against that of insanity or cruelly, if they can. 

Am I a fanatic when I decidedly condemn kidnapping, man-stealing, 
trafficking in human flesh, disfiguring and destroying the mind of man, the 
miniature resemblance of tlie Deity? Is it fanaticism or prophecy, when 
in a warning, though humble voice, I predict the results to which such 
irreligion and inhumanity must inevitably tend ? Is the voice that spoke 
from Mount Sinai, the voice of fanaticism ? How preposterous ! how pre- 
sumptuous ! Yet such is the language which our adversaries adopt. 

Whether fanatical or not, we are sincere ; — that virtue, at least, can- 
not be questioned. Can as much be said for our antagonists ? What 
have we to gain personally from this struggle? Contumely and odium. 
We act under the influence of sympathy towards the whole race of man- 
kind. They act under the more questionable influence of selfishness and 
personal aggrandizement. We are untainted with any thing like a suspicion 
of guilt, vvhile in tlieir sack the silver cup is found ; — the thirty pieces, the 
price of innocent blood, are detected. 

Among those who dare to think for themselves, which embraces far from 
the largest portion of mankind — among those who do not belong to the 
common flock, which is always sure to follow where the bell-wether leads, — 
there are few uninterested and untrammelled, who will venture to maintain 
the expediency or justice of slavery. I say there are few uninterested and 
untrammelled. Do you ask a modern politician for his opinion, — politicians 
now being followers, not leaders, — before he expresses it, he borrows a hint 
from the South ; the vote of the South must be secured. Do you ask a 
partisan for his opinion ? He regulates his answer by its influence upon 
the election. Do you ask a would-be patriot ? He tells you Jeff'erson was 
a fool, and instead of slavery destroying the country, it will destroy the 
country to abolish slavery. Do you ask the adherents of those several 
classes for their opinion ? Why, they think as their principals, or neigh- 
bors think. And do you inquire the views of the last and lowest class ? They 
don't think at all. They are the actors — the rank and file, always brawling 
about liberty without ever understanding it, and elevating themselves into that 
lawless superiority which depends solely upon brute and physical force. I do 
not mean the mechanical or laboring classes, — who are, in truth, the pride — 
the stay — the bone and sinew of the country, — but the mob — made up by 
the refuse oi all the other classes, and preying upon all. 

" The still and mental parts 
That do contrive liow many liands shall strike 
When fitness calls them on, and know by measure 
Of their observant toil the enemies' weight ; 
Why this hath not a finger's dignity — 
They call this bed work, mappery, closet war. 
So that the ram that batters down the wall. 
For the great swing and rudeness of his poise, 
They placed before his hand that made the engine. 
Or those that with the fineness of their souls 
By reason guide his execution." 

Who then are the fanatics ? Those who assert the right to discuss sub- 
jects of national policy and philanthropy ? or those who utterly forbid it ? 
Who venture to demand our citizens for daring to discuss or express an 
opinion upon the subject, and who even attempt to bully the representatives 
of the free states, (I do not use the term invidiously,) into an abandonment 
of their sacred duty ? Look to the case of Hopper in Georgia, of Howard 
Payne, of Lovejoy, of Crandall. 



24 FIRST DAY — MOKMNG SESSION'. 

Is this fanaticism ? — is it riifiianism ? — or what is it ? That it is a gross 
violalion of the law anJ of the rights of an American citizen, no man in his 
senses can for a moment dovibt. Vet, some of our good citizens, in the very 
sincerity of fear and cold blood, and in the abundance of their sympathies, 
join in this storm of censure against their own friends, and clamor against 
interference with Southern bondage. Why, this indeed is frugal honesty. 
It is expediency. The cry is up, and it is easier to promote than resist it. 
But if they decide this great ijucstion by the relative noise of the parties, 
they will find themselves in a woful error. The moral sense of the com- 
munity is with us — the juiigment of impartial men is with us — the smiles 
of the world are with us, — and, above all, — the principles of eternal and 
immulal)le justice are witli us. What else do you require ? 

We do not disturb them. N\ hen the colored man is claimed, we de- 
fend him, and alTord him an opportunity of establishing his liberty. 
Who shall condemn this ? When we interpose, it is lo meliorate 
the condition of the slave and master, through legislative and congres- 
sional enactment. We ask no violence — we invite lo none. We avoid 
all. "Glory to God in the liighest ; on earth, peace and good will 
to men," is the motto on our banner. If that banner be stained with 
blood, it is not the blood of our adversaries, but our own. It may be mat- 
ter of reproach lo them, but assuredly not to us. Tiie views of this body 
have been grossly misunderstood, and, by the wicked and designing, grossly 
misrepresented. The time approaclies when it shall appear in its true fea- 
tures ; stripped of the disguise with wliich it has been bedizened by its 
enemies. 

Tell me what is to be the result of this course ? I do not mean within 
a year, or a century : — what elfecls will the ripening hand of Time alone 
produce, supposing that that wliich is to come conform to past experience. 
Why in less than a century, the colored population which now amounts to 
one-liflli of the people of the United Slates, increasing as it does, much 
faster than the white population, will exceed the white population. They 
have the benefit in their increase of all shades and complexions, from the 
black to the quadroon, while we are comparatively restricted. When their 
numerical force shall exceed ours, what then ? I do not dare to hint at the 
fearful story which is reserved for the historians of that age. The event 
may be long delayed, but it must be finally met. .\nd what a wretched and 
delusive policy is that, which postpones the resistance of infant evil, in the 
vain hope of subduing it with jrrcater ease in its maturity of strength. Yet 
our brethren will not be warned. They cannot deny the conclusions at 
which we have arrived, and yet they lull themselves into repose by the fancy 
that the increase of their fellow-creatures in bondage, like that of their 
horses and sheep, will prove a blessing. Who ever knew vice to be even- 
tually followed by a blessing? It may appear to prosper for a time, it is 
true ; but the sequel will assuredly shew that that very prosperity was but 
one of its penalties. 

In triilli, time has already outgrown slavery ; and this is in nothing more 
strongly manifested than in the threats and bravailoes of the South, who 
vent their spleen upon the few who act upon those principles that the 
many profess. " Tlicse signs," says a distinguished writer, "cannot be 
mistaken ;" — and she adds, " I never heard of any one but Gov. McDuflle, 
who supposed that slavery can last for ever. lie in his message to the 
South Carolina Legislature, declares that he considers slavery the corner- 
stone of republican liberty. And that if he were dying, his latest prayer 
would be, that his children shoidd live nowhere but amidst the institutions 
of slavery." Such sentiments ilcscrvc a halter or a mad shirt. 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 25 

And yet, wonderful to relate, they were adopted in the Legislature by a 
solemn vote ! — a solemn vote, indeed, it was — a most precious legacy from 
fathers to their offspring. This is the same ultra spirit that has produced 
the recent disgraceful scenes in our national councils ; scenes that an Ame- 
rican should blush to remember, and which have doomed the actors therein 
to imperishable infamy. I speak freely, as belongs to the occasion, and as 
becomes this place, which is dedicated to Freedom. Liberty is lovely in 
all her attributes, but in none so much so as in that of speech, since upon 
that she must mainly depend for the preservation of all the rest. 

It is further urged, however, that this property, these souls and sinews, 
are theirs. Grant it, for the argument, — though the warm blood freezes 
while we grant it ; still if they profess to be willing to manumit their slaves 
in order to colonization, the mere pecuniary interest becomes no subject of 
objection, as the loss, in both cases, to tiie owner, would be the same. Or, 
if we are answered, that this manumission is to be partial, and not general, 
why then we reply as has long been contended, that while colonization lops 
off some of the branches of this Upas, it causes the tree to take a deeper 
root, and to flourish in wider and less irradicable ruin. By unanimity 
among the different states, by legislative enactments, and with the sanction 
of the national government, a thousand less objectionable modes of relief 
might be adopted. Settlements within the United States, upon the millions 
of acres unimproved, might be created or established. The whole earth 
opens her bosom, and stretches wide her arms to lure and lead us on to one 
great national effort in behalf of the oppressed — nay, not only in behalf 
of the oppressed, but in behalf of the oppressor, and for the honor of the 
free government under which they both live. 

But, it is said, they must not be permitted to remain with us : that this is 
the danger. There is no danger. How absurd it is to affect to believe 
that two millions of slaves, without civilization or moral instruction, and 
naturally entertaining great animosity towards those by whom they are held 
in bondage, should be perfectly harmless; whereas, these same men, when 
restored to freedom, and improved in their civil and moral relations, and 
bound in gratitude to their benefactors, should be so fraught with peril. 
That is not the experience which the history of the West India emanci- 
pation supplies. That is not consistent with human nature. It is not 
consistent even with brute instinct. To render a dog ferocious, you chain 
him. He becomes mild and tractable in his intercourse with men. The 
condition of the blacks, must even, if not slavish, for a long time necessarily 
remain servile. After their fetters are removed, the chains of prejudice 
still remain. But their services would be infinitely more valuable, and the 
expenses incident to them, by no means proportionably increased, were 
they restored to freedom. Diffused over this vast country, the poison would 
be so diluted, so neutralized, as to lose its destructive properties, and all 
society would soon resume its healthy tone, with the blessings of Heaven 
upon its head, and the peace of Heaven in its heart. 

Still, it is asked. What ! shall we admit them to the rights of citizens ? 
That is a matter for future consideration. It does not essentially belong to 
the question, whether it is expedient to restore them to their natural rights. 
It does not belong to the question whether, being men, they shall be treated 
as beasts. Political or civil rights may be regulated according to circum- 
stances, at least in relation to those whose freedom is conditional in its 
character ; and we cannot perceive how this objection can be more available 
against abolition than colonization. The blacks are free, who are conveyed 
to the colony. They, as freemen, can return to the land of their choice, and 
therefore, the only difi'erence is a voyage to the colony and back. How far 

4 



"itj HRs.1 DAV MORNING 6KSS10N. 

this shall qualify them for ihe purposes of government, and remove the ob- 
jection to the enjoyment of equal rights, it remains for the friends of that 
circuitous and anomalous system to inf(»rm us. I am aware that much 
excitement has recently been produced by the question here in this state — 
the very first, I say it to her glory, to abolish slavery — as to the elective 
franchise of the blacks. Now, I confess, as to this question, if it could be 
considered in the abstract, I should feel no g-rcat anxiety. This is not the 
jioint of view in which it disturbs me. It is the manifestation of obsequi- 
ousness to the views of the South, — the want of that Koman firmness, in 
the prosecution of riirht, which becomes a great slate, — the disposition to 
recede after lorty years, even beyond the starting point of improvement, — 
that is calculated to astound and appal every individual who contemplates 
it. The disposition, not simply to withhold a right never constitutionally 
granted, but to withdraw a right, previously conferred by the Constitution, 
in mean subserviency to popular clamor, — which, in this instance, at least, is 
assuredly not the voice of CJod. The names of Sergeant, of Chauncey, of 
I-'orward, of t'ope, of Hiddle, of Dunlop, of Chandler, of Earl, and other 
distingnished members of tlie Convention, as opposing this inexcusable inva- 
sion of the rights of the helpless and forlorn, will be handed down to an 
applauding posterity, while many of those by whom it was suggested and 
maintained, will be blessed by an oblivion, which they have so richly de- 
served ; or if remembered at all, will be remembered only upon the prin- 
ciple, that a great name not more survives from good than evil deeds. I 
would rather, much rather, be recorded as one of the minority, on that great 
question of human rights, than emblazoned on history as one of the Spartan 
band that sacrificed their lives to the salvation of their country in the straits 
of Thermopvlrr. 

'I'his is no time to discuss legal questions. The clauses in the diflfierent 
Constitutions speak for themselves. That of the year 1790 provides that, 
" In elections by the citizens, every freeman of the age of twenty-one years, 
having resided in the state two years, next before the elections, and within 
that time paid a state or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least 
six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector. — .*ir/. 3, 
Sec. I. 

That of 1838 runs thus: — "In elections by the citizens, every wiiitk 
freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in this state one 
year, and in the electio;i distrirt where he oilers to vote, ten days imme- 
diately preceding such election, and within two years paid a state or county 
tax, which shall have been assessed at least ten days before the election, 
shall enjoy the rights of an electctr. Hut a citizen of the United States, 
who had previously been a (jualified voter of this state, and removed there- 
fron) and relurnnd, and who shall have resided in the election district, and 
paid taxes -is aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote, after residing in the state 
six months." — .Irticle 2, Section 1. 

'i'he Supreme Court of IVnnsylvania has recently decided, that the words 
"every freeman," in the old Constitution, signified cwry white freeman. 
This decision is said to be founded upon a case in the High Court of 
Errors and Appeals, which case has no more to do with this subject, 
and I fear not so much, as the moon. The question determined in the 
Court of Errors was as to the slavery or freedom of an alleged bondsman. 
It was not whether a freeman whose face bore the shadowed livery of the 
burnished sun, was distinguished in his civil rights from one of lighter 
complexicm : no such thing. The enjoyment of the right of franchise, 
almost wherever it was asserted throughout this stale, apart from the plain 



DAVID PAUL brown's oration. 27 

terms of tlie Constitution, was an apt interpretation of tlie riglils possessed. 
As to decisions by inferior tribunals, they are of but Utile account. But it 
is a subject of deep reijret, that so highly elevated, honorable, and dignified 
a tribunal, as that to which 1 have referred, should be betrayed into so oross 
and lamentable an error. It would be matter of great interest here to 
examine into the different views expressed by the judges, and the members 
of the Convention, upon this all important subject. Time will not allow 
the examination. But this, at least, may be said, — that the judges deter- 
mined, that a colored freeman never had the right to vote, under the old 
Constitution ; and that some of the adversaries, the most distinguished 
adversaries of that right, in the Convention, gave as a reason, and almost 
the sole reason, for the introduction of the word white, that a colored free- 
man actually did enjoy the elective franchise under the old Constitution. 
So that it results in this : either the Supreme Court or the Convention 
must be wrong. I join with the opinion expressed by the Convention, and 
abundantly sustained by the Constitution itself. The very vote that created 
that Convention was, in part, a vote of the colored population ; and to say, 
thQ.refore, that their constituents had no right to vote, was virtually to deter- 
mine that they had no right to their places. And admitting that right to vote, 
the introduction of the word white, by which that right was restricted, was 
taking from the colored citizens a privilege that was conferred upon them 
fifty years ago. If this is to be considered as an evidence of our improve- 
ment in intelligence, morality, or humanity, and of the extension of free- 
dom in a state that was the first to abolish slavery, why then, I say, that 
we have fallen upon evil times ; and the sooner we return to the character 
and practices of our forefathers, the better for us, and for all who depend 
upon us. This I hold to be a sacrifice to the prejudices and clamors of the 
South. It can be attributable to no other probable cause. They arrest our 
citizens — consign them to prison — deprive them of liberty — destroy their 
lives, — and in requital for all this, to show how well we have learned our 
scri[)tural lessons, and in order to return good for evil, we retrace the steps 
which fifty years have sanctioned, and dilapidate the temple of liberty 
which our ancestors have anxiously and laboriously erected. 

Some of the members engaged in the discussion of this important sub- 
ject, seem to think that the negroes, as they termed them, never were 
designed to be placed upon a level with the whites, being of an inferior 
speci'fes — of an inferior order of intellect. Upon what level, may I be 
permitted to ask, would those honorable gentlemen be placed, were their 
position regulated strictly by the intellectual scale. This is severe doctrine, 
even when applied to men who enjoy equal opportunities for improvement. 
But how cruel and unjust is it, when directed against those unhappy beings, 
who are by law excluded from the benefits of instruction, and then gene- 
rously taunted with ignorance and inferiority. Intellectual inferiority, if it 
existed, which, so far as regards capacity, I deny, is no justification of 
slavery. When it shall become so, let him who advocates such principles 
look well to his freedom, for it will certainly be in jeopardy. 

To say no more of intellect. I have known instances of moral firmness 
and decision of character among this proscribed race, that many of the 
honorable gentlemen who thus contemn them, would blench and blanch in 
the mere contemplation of. 

Those of us who are closely approaching the meridian of life, must re- 
collect perfectly a murder committed in this city about thirty years ago — 
the murder of Sarah Cross, an old lady who lived in Letitia Court. The 
malefactors were two colored men, John .Toyce and Peter Mathias, the latter 



28 FIRST DAV — Morning session. 

of whom was supposed to have been coerced into the crime. More than 
ten years after that event, I was called upon by Mr. Luke Morris, and Isaac 
T. Hopper, to defend an alleged slave, before the recorder, who held his 
session in the prison. Upon arriving at the scene of trial, I approached 
the respondent, and privately, as a preliminary, inquired his name. He 
told me his name was I'ctcr Mathias ; as quick as lightning my boyish 
recollections riashed upon my mind, and as it had been currently reported, 
just after the execution, that Mathias had been restored to life by a galvanic 
experiment, I scarcely doubled, but that tlie man bi fore me was this veritable 
personage ; and involuntarily somewhat recoiling from him, 1 exclaimed, 
" Peter .Mathias ! — why, a man of that name was executed, some years ago, 
for murder." My astonishment was n(»t a little increased, when he replied, 
" Come nearer, and I'll tell you all about it." If I had had any doubts 
before, they would have vanished. 1 approached him, however, when he 
relieved my apprehensions by the following extraordinary disclosure : — 
•• My name is not Mathias, but John Johnson. When Peter was thrown 
into prison, I also was imprisoned for an assault and battery, and on the 
morning Peter was led forth to execution, he called me to him, and said, 
' John, you are a slave, I am free ; here are my freedom papers ; I am going 
where I shall not want them — they may be of use to you, take them, change 
your name to Peter Mathias, and if your master ever should claim you, 
show these papers, and they will protect you.'" Of course, no honorable 
advocate could take advantage of such an artifice, and the unhappy man 
was restored to the claimant. 'J'his simple story is introduced, to show in 
what horror slavery is held by these wretched beings — and also to show 
how much magnanimity may be concealed under a sable skin. Had Peter 
been a Koman, he would have figured for this one act upon the historic 
page, and secured an immortalitj' of fame. 

My profession has furnished thousands of instances, scarcely less remark- 
able than this, 'i'ime forbids their recital. But this we may be permitted 
to say — that no man, who has witnessed the scenes that almost daily occur 
among this unhappy class of men, can do otherwise than hold this inhuman 
traffic in undisguised abhorrence. I'pon one occasion, a young mulatto 
was brought before the Court — a fellow fit to stand by Ca>sar ; he was 
ordered by the judge, after heariiijr, to be remanded. His master approached 
with his myrmidons to bear him away, and inquired whellier he would go 
peaceably, without irons. " No," was the reply — it was in the very Hall 
of Independence, and it was worthy of the place — " no ; I give you warn- 
ing to make me perlcclly secure, for I will terminate my existence with the 
first opportunity. Liberty or death, is my motto." 

But these, and such as these, are the sufferings of men, and the dignity 
with which they bear them, seems to alleviate their distress. But who 
shall describe the suffering, the affliction of the female heart. I have seen 
the mother torn from the child of three weeks old, and from that age up 
to maturity ; I have seen the wife dragged from the husband, and the hus- 
band from the wife, while beasts would hardly have been separated without 
compunction ; I have seen the prime of life and decrepid age torn from our 
soil ; I have more than once hesitated whether to take defence for the chil- 
dren, when the mother was a captive, on the principle that slavery with 
her, was better than liberty without her. Horrilile alternative. 

In the famous case in .Mount Holly, which occupied a fortnight, a hus- 
band, wife, and four children, were claimed, all upon different rights. The 
case, it is true, resulted in the discharge of all, and in the mitigation of 
some of the severest features of slave jurisprudence, but it was an awful 
■cene to those who thought of. while they looked upon it. The revered 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 29 

Shipley was the companion of my labors upon that occasion, and to his 
exertions was their preservation mainly attributable. Since then he has 
gone to his reward ; and if practical virtue, if untiring benevolence towards 
this unhappy race, give any assurance of the hereafter, he has been gathered 
to the society of the just made perfect, while his name on earth shall, in 
itself, be an inheritance to his children, far beyond all considerations of 
wealth. In the annals of the times he was comparatively obscure, because 
his merits were unobtrusive ; but still, the thousands of the poor and friend- 
less Africans, who followed him to the house appointed for all living, and 
the tears that spontaneously moistened the sod that covered him, bore richer 
testimonials to his inherent worth, than the proud, pampered, and luxu- 
rious tyrant, who builds his elevation upon the downfall of his species, can 
ever hope to enjoy. 

But to return from this digression. I confess, that with all my devotion 
to the great cause of human freedom, still, if it were left to me to strike off 
the chains of slavery instantly, and with a single blow, I should hesitate 
before that blow was struck. Hesitate, not for myself — not for the safety 
or security of the government — not for the probable effects of the measure 
upon society or upon the slave states, but for the slaves themselves. They 
are not, as a mass, morally or intellectually, in a condition qualifying them 
for so sudden and important a change. The flood of light that would pour 
in upon them, would prove too powerful for their long-benighted vision ; 
or, in other words, they might surfeit in the excess of joy. Nevertheless, 
we should contend for immediate emancipation, because the system of de- 
lays is dangerous to this enterprise. Immediate emancipation cannot 
result from immediate causes ; but the urgency of those causes will bring 
it about, assuredly, in good season; and, under the blessing of Heaven, even 
the seed sown to-day, may produce an abundant harvest in all time to come. 
We should contend for this doctrine, because it is the most effective. It 
cannot, we agree, succeed to the desired extent; but it will succeed better 
than those projects, that claim but little in the first place, and eventually 
relinquish that, for the purposes of conciliation. The conciliation that 
rests upon an abandonment of principle, is prostitution. It renders opposi- 
tion obdurate, and diminishes the prospect of future success. Let us not, 
however, differ about mere terms. Exchange the word immediate for cer- 
tain. We will not quarrel as to a month, or a year, or twenty years, if 
our antagonists will only concur with us, in reducing the liberation of the 
slaves to an actual certainty. Experience in Antigua, Barbadoes, and 
Jamaica, would instruct us, it is true, to avoid qualifications in emancipation ; 
but if the great object can be accomplished, even under some restrictions 
not vitally affecting its character, no man is so unreasonable as to refuse, 
upon such terms, to unite in almost any measure proposed. 

How then is that object to be accomplished ? Assuredly not by coloni- 
zation. The experiment has been made, and has failed — fearfully failed. 
We need not refer to the wanton expenditure of life — to the souls that shall 
meet us at count — to the means lavished, and wasted — to the hopes ripened, 
and blasted. The timeless tenant of the "narrow house" proclaims it — 
and the execrations of suffering thousands point to Liberia, as the fruitful 
source of irremediable woe. That colonization might prove a valuable 
auxiliary to liberty, we are not prepared to deny ; but that such colonization, 
thus conducted — thus condemned, can ever be productive of beneficial re- 
sults, it is madness to assert. Nor is it merely on the score of its doing 
no good, that it is objectionable — but that it actually does harm. Harm, 
not simply in antedating the doom of thousands who have confided in it — 
if, indeed, compulsion may be called confidence — but in withdrawing atten- 



30 FIRST DAV MORNING SESSION. 

lion from oilier, snd infinitely more ralional plans of freedom. Half of ihe 
viclory mighl have been acliievi'd, during ihe iwenty years llial public 
interest has been employed, and public means squandered, in cherishing 
and bedizening this sickly and misbegotten olfspring of an illicit alliance 
between the North and the South — this child of forty fathers, that ha.s 
been christened colonization, which, practically rendered, signilies Death. 
Atnong its friends, however, there are many valuable, though misguided 
men. We are bound to believe that their purposes are honest ; their private 
and their public characters are ample vouchers for their sincerity. But holy 
zeal, when manifested in an unholy cause, is more pernicious ilian the most 
insidious, crafty, and destructive vice, as it enlists much of the might and 
majesty of virtue, beneath the banner of sacrilege and crime. 

There are others, no doubt, also honest, that are too wild and visionary 
for reasonable reliance. They start their game, and they hunt it to death, 
like true sportsmen, reckless of the pangs they inllict, not for the value of 
the prey, but for the pleasure of the chase. There is no limit to their 
delusion; and when you speak to them of discretion, of moderation, they 
talk to you of Columbus, of Saul of Tarsus, of Moses and the pilgrim 
Israelites, and recklessly rush forward in the wild determination of founding 
a republic, on the basis of a yawning and devouring sepulchre. 

They say to us, you can never overcome slavery by the means you have 
adopted. Why, this is as good an argument in favor of slavery, as in behalf 
of the colonizationists, unless their superior merits be established. We 
may not, it is true, succeed against the joint efforts of the South, and of 
Colonization, but we can try. We may, at least, deserve success, though 
we cannot command it ; and wc shall, at all events, bear with us in defeat, 
should defeat ensue, the soothing consolation that, as men, we ventured to 
maintain the sacred rights of man — those rights for which our fathers bled — 
those rights, which, however ItJiig and zealously disputed, must finally 
prevail. 

Still the question recurs, how is this great object to be accomplished ? 
That its accomplishment will be allcudi-d with difliculty is unquestionable. 
With the consent of the slavelmldcrs, and its inlluence upon legislative 
enactments, it would prove comparatively easy. Laws might be passed, 
similar in their character to those t)f the Spanish islands in the West Indies, 
providing, that some part of the day, or some day in the week, should be 
appropriated to the slave ; that he should be allowed payment for over- 
work ; and that his earnings should be placed with some public depositary, 
until they should amount to a sum suflicient to purch;ise his liberty. To 
aid in tliis, there might be a slave-fund, created by the nation and the 
respective states, to be annually appropriated to the same charitable purpose. 
This would be one measure, insutlirient in itself, it is true, but strongly 
conducive, with others, to the completion of this magnanimous and immor- 
tal work ! What a glory would it have been to the nation, had the superllux 
of our treasury been applied to this philanthropic work. 'I'lien, indeed, 
it would have been converted into a blessing, in;slcad «)f producing, as it 
has done, the heaviest of curses. 

Another plan woulil be, so as to meet all humors, co-operating with 
that referred to, to establish a national colony — having for it^ basis, not in- 
dividual, but government security ; and all'ording to the colored colonists 
who shall voluntarily embrace the design, the enjoyment of the same 
natural and political rights, within their own realm, as we ourselves possess. 
This might lav the foundation for future commercial advantages to both ; 
and, at all events, would hold out inducements that could not be despised, 
and. in no possible event, would l)e lial)le to l)p deplored. 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 31 

A further auxiliary project would be, as preparatory or incidental to the 
success of the rest, that laws should be passed providing for the education 
of the slaves ; that thus they might, in time, become fit subjects for govern- 
ment, and not be cast loose upon society, like so many wild beasts, to 
destroy themselves and others. Public schools should be established for 
their use, where they should, at least, be taught to read and write ; for it 
must be borne in mind, that the chief argument now urged against them, 
is that which is supposed to arise from total ignorance, and the consequent 
absence of those moral, intellectual, and religious advantages, that they 
have never yet been taught to enjoy or to appreciate. There is still another 
measure that would be attended with beneficial effects, and which is in entire 
consistency with individual rights— and that is, the abrogation of laws pro- 
hibitory of manumission. The moral sense of the community, if left to 
itself, would soon cure the evil of slavery ; but Legislatures interfere, and 
prevent it, under the pretext that the evil of manumission is greater than 
that of slavery. In this respect, their conduct very much resembles that 
of a man, who, having the small-pox virus in his system, takes medicines 
to prevent its eruption upon his skin, and thereby drives it to his vitals. 
Slavery is increased by having its virus incorporated into the system, and 
driven to the vitals of the body-politic, by preventing its eruption in the 
form of manumitted slaves. 

Upon what principle, while these legislative bodies contend that the ge- 
neral government has no riglit to interfere with the privilege of property, 
they themselves can thus control it, it is not easy to imagine. They will 
tell us, that it is upon the principle of security against the mischiefs which 
will probably result from a restoration of slaves to freedom : still, if slaves 
are to be considered as absolute property, why should they control the dis- 
position which masters may be inclined to make of them ? If the national 
government cannot sway them for good purposes, why shall they sway 
them for pernicious purposes, from the mere anticipations of possible evil ? 
If the rights of the owner are paramount to all public considerations, those 
rights are just as much interfered with by unjust restraints, as they are by 
what is alleged to be an unconstitutional coercion. In truth, the laws of the 
slave states are calculated to perpetuate slavery — it is not the desire of the 
mass of the population, nor is it their interest nor policy, to promote man- 
cipation — it impoverishes the state in which it exists — it diminishes the 
increase of the whites — it augments that of the blacks : whereas, by eman- 
cipation, the increase of the black population would be lessened by one 
per cent, per annum, and that of the whites would be enhanced in nearly 
the same proportion. 

" By reference," says a distinguished political philosopher, " to the 
censuses, it will be found, that slaves increase much faster than a free black 
population. By doing justice, therefore, to the slaves in manumitting them, 
their rapid increase will be greatly restrained. This presents an easy, 
natural, and judicious method, by which the evil of an overwhelming 
colored population may, to a great extent, be prevented. It is a much more 
effectual mode of lessening the comparative numbers of the blacks, than 
colonization or emigration. The diminution of the increase of blacks would 
be twenty-five thousand per annum ; and the colonizationists in twenty years 
have not succeeded in removing one-tenth of that number. There is also 
this important difference between an emigration of twenty-five thousand a 
year, and a diminished increase of that number. In the former case, the 
power of the fountain that sends forth these bitter waters, is not in the least 
degree abated ; in the latter, the power of the fountain is weakened, and 



33 FIRST DAY MORNING SESSION. 

its force impaired. The difference in the effect of these two causes, would 
be surprising in the course of twenty years. 

But say the Southern advocates, we quote their very language, " admit- 
ting slavery to be an evil, it is entailed upon us, by no fault of ours. And 
must we shrink from the charge, and throw the slaves in consequence, into 
the hands of those who have no scruples of conscience ? — those who will 
not perhaps treat iheni so kindly ? No! this is not philosophy, this is not 
morality." We must recoUtct that the unjirofilable man was thrown into 
outer darkness. To the slaveholder has truly been entrusted the five talents ; 
let him but recollect the exhortation of the apostle, " Masters give unto 
your servants that whirh is just, knowing that you also have a master in 
heaven." And in the final result he shall have nothing on this score, with 
which his conscience need be smitten, and he may expect the weU-ome 
plaudit, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful 
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." 

Such is a brief summary of the argument in vindication of slavery. A 
more outrageous perversion of reason and religion, has perhaps rarely ex- 
posed itself to public reprobation and abhorrence. Let us for a moment 
examine this monstrous doctrine. ** Slavery is entailed upon them, and 
shall they shrink from the charge?" What! do they attempt rendering 
slavery a duty — a sympathetic, disinterested duty towards the unhappy vic- 
tim himself? Supposing it to have been entailed upon them, can they not 
break tlie entailment, where they alone are interested ? A depraved nature 
is entailed upon us all, yet who would undertake to justify robbery and 
bloodslied, or any other heinous vice, upon the mere ground of his natural 
propensity to crime ? There is but one thing more odious than the oppres- 
sion of our fellow men, and that is, the hypocritical attempt to excuse it, 
by the pretended necessities of the oppressed. As to the inheritance of 
slavery, that argument shall grow stronger with every successive genera- 
tion. Its origin may have been our fathers' fault, but its continuance is ours, 
and will, if we bequeath the curse to our issue, render us at once the de- 
scendants and the ancestors of guilt. 

But if the masters shrink from the charge, we are lold, the slaves will be 
thrown into less charitable hands; this is like the argument of the drunkard 
against abandoning his pernicious potations, namely, — that drunkenness 
with him was hereditary, and that by giving up his daily allowance, it 
would only serve to increase the stock for others, who are even more 
desperately devoted to the pleasures of the bowl than himself. This 
reeling course of reasoning could never have induced the adoption of the 
mischief, but is resorted to, from necessity, to justify its existence. The 
least pardonable portion of these objectionable remarks, is that which would 
claim the divine sanction of religion in aid of this earthly abomination. 
"The unprofitable man was thrown into utter darkness — to slaveholders have 
been entrusted the live talents — having been faithful over a few, they shall 
be rulers over many things, and enter into the joy of their Lord." As I 
understand this version, the talents were so many slaves, and hence it may 
be supposed, that he who works them the hardest has, according to the 
notion of the advocate, the strongest claims upon Heaven. If this is to be 
the passport, the South are generally sure of salvation, and they need 
scarcely quarrel for its degrees. The only remaining part of the picture is 
that which relates to the scruples of conscience. This is too much ! ! The 
argument from interest, necessity, and general expediency, may, perhaps, be 
tolerated; but I think this is the first objection founded in conscience against 
the abolition of slavery ; and, therefore, whatever may be its folly, or its 



DAVID I'AUL brown's ORAllON. 33 

faults, it has the merit of novelty, at least. I despise the man, that dares 
thus to palter with his conscience for the support of this nefarious traffic. 
I abhor him who would impiously attempt to derive authority from Heaven 
itself, for this earthly abomination. The devil, it is true, can cite Scripture 
for his purpose, — but that man should venture to arraign the decrees of 
Providence, or to render them subservient to the gratification of selfishness 
or iniquity, is to pronounce his own condemnation, in the voice of that very 
authority to which he appeals for excuse. 

But to return again to the remedies for the evil. The last measure I 
would advise, should be the passage of a law rendering all colored children 
born after a given time, free, upon their arrival at a certain age. Time, 
and the occasion, will not allow me to go into minute details, for the pur- 
pose of exhibiting the mutual advantages of the reform thus proposed. But 
they must be obvious to every thinking and practical mind. It is apparent, 
however, that, in most of these recommendations, we contemplate the con- 
currence of national and state efforts, as well as those of individuals. If 
that concurrence should eventually be obtained, — and if professions be true, 
who shall doubt it, — although no one of these methods might be calculated 
to counteract the evil complained of, in their^oin^ and concentrated influence 
their success will be inevitable; and in less than half a century from this 
period, the groans and clanking chains, and heavy curses of slavery, shall 
be heard, and seen, and felt no more. The joy of our national anniversary 
shall be doubled, and we shall comineniorate, at the same time, the achieve- 
ment of liberty by ourselves, and the still more glorious extension of it from 
ourselves to others. 

To effectuate this great object, immediate means must be adopted. There 
must be no time-serving, no luke-warmness, no abandonment of principle ; let 
us knock constantly at the portals of liberty, night and day, until our ad- 
mission is secured, and our prayers are granted. For my single self, I 
would rather have it inscribed on my humble tomb, that I gave freedom to 
one man, than that I was the first discoverer and founder of the whole colony 
of Liberia ; aye, or even of the continent of America itself, if it is to be 
devoted to slavery. Let us but once establish a colony in the human heart, 
dedicated and consecrated to philanthropy and justice, and its influence 
shall extend throughout the land, — and its glorious rays, like those of the 
sun, shall dispense peace and plenty, and warmth, and vigor, and light 
and life, to this New World — Egyptian darkness shall flee before it, and 
Egyptian bondage, in the transport of regeneration, shall burst its galling 
fetters, — and slavery shall be no more. 

We cannot take leave of this subject without some remarks in relation to 
ourselves. That we have the right to discuss and condemn slavery, it is in 
vain to deny. That we have also the right to use every possible effort with the 
government, and with the free and slave states to abolish it, is equally beyond 
dispute; but, nevertheless, let us ever be discreet, — for although prudence 
is said to be a coward virtue, in great political experiments it is worth all 
the rest. We yield to no man in the warmth of our attachment to this 
great cause ; we can neither be seduced by favor, nor alarmed by threats, 
into an abandonment of our conscientious opinion. But still, we would 
not encroach, unnecessarily, for the benefit of one class of men, upon the 
peace and tranquillity of another. The slaves, themselves, can, as matters 
now stand, do nothing towards their own emancipation ; they may do much 
to prevent it, and we should, therefore, be careful to abstain from every 
measure that may be calculated to excite in them a hostile or rebellious 
spirit towards those to whom, as the laws now exist, they owe unqualified 

5 



:J4 11R8T DA\ — MOKMNU SLbSlON. 

obedience. Let it be borne in mind, that the slave is not alone to be com- 
miserated; the master may also be an object of compassion. 

That we have no privilege to express our abhorrence of slavery; to assail 
colonization, as imparting no relief from its horrors ; to adopt every honor- 
able means to abolish both, is what never will, and never can be reasonably 
contended. But to foment factions, — to carry on an exterminating and 
implacable war against our Southern brethren, — to invade their firesides, 
and disturb their domestic security, is as remote from our duty, as it is from 
our design and desire. 

We have no sectional feelings, nor personal jealousies ; we have no 
malevolence towards any man; we have none of that haired for our adver- 
saries, that seems to be apprehended ; nor can we look with any thing 
short of horror at the appalling spectres conjured up to our view, of civil 
war, of bloodshed, and desolation ; yet all these " convenient scarecrows," 
with twenty times their stop, shall never deter us from a candid and dis- 
passionate ex))res3ion of our sentiments upon tliis momentous question. 
Our state would be worse than that of the slave whose condition we deplore, 
if we are to submit to the shackles of the mind, nor dare to express opinions 
80 near the heart, upon a subject so dear to the nation. We know this is 
a subject upon which the South is highly sensitive, and which requires 
great tenderness ; but it also requires great firmness and decision. A too 
delicate and tremulous hand, even in the most painful operations, endangers 
the life of the patieiii, and is the- height of cruelty, as it produces agony 
without any commensurate benefit. That there may be individuals with us 
who carry their zeal to an improper extent, and are occasionally transported 
beyond the bounds of reason, it would be useless to deny. We lay claim 
to no infallibility. Zealots are not confined to the profession of religion; 
they are to be found in all orders and degrees of men ; but their enthusiasm, 
if not entirely jus^tified, is certainly no legitimate subject of reproach upon 
the principles for which they intemperatcly contend, or upon the men by 
whom the same principles are more moderately and judiciously enforced. 

Collision, actual or imaginary, will ever be attended with excitement; 
but when the struggle between opposing parties is directed to the same great 
object, and the points in difference are rather in respect to men and measures, 
than in regard to principles and motives, we should at least be sparing of 
our censure, if not lavish of our praise. Let us not, in self-exultation, 
impiously thank heaven that we are not as the Pharisees are, but with 
Christian charity and humility do good unto those who despitefully use us 
and persecute us, and thereby establish a practical superiority. 

It is but fair, having thus imperfectly submitted our views, to cast a hasty 
glance at some of those which are entertained by many of our respectable 
fellow citizens. Let it not be supposed that we are enemies to colonization, 
rightly understood. We may be Christians, as well as our neighbors, 
without adopting all the ceremonies belonging to their creed. Tlu'V may 
establish a thousand colonies, and people them all, provided the colonies are 
not converted into grave-yards, and the inhabitants into gb They may 

extend the blessings of liberty as far as the sun shines, i> ....^ will only 
begin at home. 'I'hoy tell us liiberia is the land of promise. This is most 
true. Bui it is not the land of performance ; and that, in short, is our very 
objection, " it keeps the word of promise to the ear, and breaks it to the 
hope." The mind of man is ever studious of change and pleased with 
novelty. If, therefore, Liberia pn^sentcd any of ihose advanlagos which 
arc professed, there would be abundant leslimonials in its favor, — not from 
its agents, not from those who are pensioned out of it, not from those who 
have embarked ihcir means in it, but never saw it, — but from those for 



DAVID PAUL brown's ORATION. 35 

wliom it was ostensibly designed, and who, so far from its commendation, 
seem to consider it at best but a poor exchange for the slavery from which 
they were relieved. It is said, however, that its want of success is im- 
putable to the opposition of this Society. That, indeed, is also partly true ; 
but that opposition would not have prevailed, and might never have com- 
menced, if it had not been for the remarkable vulnerability of its adversary, 
and the strong appeals of humanity in behalf of those whose credulity 
was abused, and whose rights were despised. Had it succeeded, its 
success could never have been a national blessing, but might have conduced 
to lull us into a fancied security, a fatal slumber in the very arms of an 
earthquake, from which we could have been aroused only by the sound of 
the last trumpet. 

They further say, that the South unites with them, and it might seem 
so, — but, in truth, they rather unite with the South ; and we defy any 
man carefully to examine their doctrines — their constitution — and the 
speeches of their respective supporters, without arriving at the conclusion 
that they are entirely dependent, for their existence as a Society, upon the 
South ? "A breatli unmakes them, as a breath has made." Bound by this 
tenure, what free will or agency can they have — upon what security can 
they build their prospects of success ? Upon empty and indefinite pledges — 
upon futile and illusory hopes — upon visionary gratuities and concessions, 
made to-day and forfeited to-morrow ? or, if not actually forfeited, liable to 
such modifications and restraints as shall tend to relieve the slaveholder, 
without relieving the slave ! 

We have thus, in rapid review, shown you what is liberty and what is 
slavery ; — how the former may be preserved and the latter abolished. In 
conclusion, let me implore you to persevere in your enterprise, but with 
all becoming tenderness and sympathy ; let not the indignation which you feel 
for the sufferings of your fellow men, betray you into intemperate measures 
that shall rather increase than allay those sufferings. The object of your 
association is to restore the slaves to freedom, and, while thus improving 
their condition, to meliorate that of the country at large. The magnanimity 
of this object no one can deny ; but, nevertheless, much must depend upon 
the means adopted for its accomplishment. Do not, therefore, by a 
pertinacious and selfish adherence to any favorite plan, place in jeopardy 
that success to which all views, in order to be eligible, ought to be directed. 
Virtue, it is true, is always fearless, but always cautious. A headlong 
devotion to the purest and most heavenly pursuits not only involves the 
votary in danger, but often precedes assured disappointment and defeat. 
On the other hand, be not too tame neither: tameness and timidity are 
unworthy of this great cause, and often produce or promote the very danger 
which they apprehend. In fine, through evil and through good report, ever 
manifest yourselves to be the true soldiers of the blessed cross ; the steady 
and devout followers of your heavenly Exemplar, "the chief among ten 
thousand, and altogether lovely." 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 

TiiK afternoon was appropriatod to the Philadelphia Lyceum, and the 
exercises were of a scienlitic and literary character. It was expected that 
the proceedings of this and of the subsequent meeting of the Lyceum, would 
be published at length in this work, but the following communication will 
sufliciently explain why they are omitted. 

To the Managers ofUic Pennsylvania llull Associatiun : 

Esteemed Friends : — It becomes my duty to forward to you the enclosed 
resolution of the Philadelphia Lyceum, to whom you kindly granted the use 
of your Hall, on the afternoon of the 14th and 15lh inst. 

This procedure of the Lyceum grew out of an over-anxiety on the part 
of some of our members, that the Lyceum, which is a literary institution, 
should not appear to be in any way connected with the benevolent insiiiu- 
tion known by the name of tlie Anti-Slavery Society, which met in your 
Hall on tli.it same week. 

How your publishing the proceedings of the Lyceum would prove any 
such connection, I am entirely at a loss to perceive. 
Respectfully, I remain 

Your friend, 

Samuel Webb, President. 

Fifth month 2Glli, 1838. 

At a meeting of the Philadelphia Lyceum, held Fifth month 26lh, 1838, 
ihe following pieamble anil resolution were adopted: 

Whereas, the .Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall have resolved to pub- 
lish a book, containing an account of the proceedings held therein, during 
its dedication ; and whereas, this Lyceum is not in any way connected with 
the abolition question, therefore. 

Resolved, 'I'hat the Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall be respectfully 
requested not to publish in said book the proceedings of this Lyceum, at 
iheir meetings held in said Hall. 

Extracted from ihe Minutes. 

Haworth Wethkralu, Secretary. 



EVENING SESSION. 



A CROWDED audience assembled at 8 o'clock in the evening, to hear 
addresses on the subject of Temperance, from Arnold Buffum, of Phila- 
delphia, and Thomas P. Hunt, of North Carolina, both of which have 
been kindly furnished for publication. 



ADDRESS OF ARNOLD BUFFUM. 

I ADDRESS not myself to drunkards, for in this highly respectable audience 
there are none of that unfortunate class; but I address those who, more than 
drunkards, stand in the way of the temperance reformation. 

First — The thoughtless moderate drinkers of fermented and spirituous 
liquors, who, however, when convinced of their danger, will cordially come 
over to the temperance cause. 

Secondly — Those half-ruined moderate drinkers, who have considered 
the subject, but still are unwilling to deny themselves the dangerous indul- 
gence, either for their own safety, or for the good of others. 

Thirdly — That portion of the practically temperate who are afraid of 
being contaminated by associating with the active friends of the cause, in 
doing good. 

To each of these classes, I propose to offer such brief remarks, as the 
very limited time allotted me will allow, and then give way to the distin- 
guished advocate of the cause, who is to follow me. 

Philanthropists and Christians, in making their observations upon men, 
have witnessed, with deep regret, that in the most civilized and Christian 
nations, a large proportion, through the destructive influence of fermented 
and spirituous liquors, have so fallen under the controling power of their 
appetites and passions, that, drinking to intoxication, they have been desig- 
nated by the opprobrious epithet of drunkards ; and, moved by the best 
feelings of humanity and religion, they have adopted such measures as to 
them seemed best calculated to arrest the flood of intemperance. They 
sought to reclaim the drunkard from his ruinous indulgence, by kind per- 
suasion, by legislative restrictions, and by the terrors of the wrath of God. 
But all these proved unavailing : the drunkard still pursued his dreadful 
career, until, having filled his measure of iniquity, delirium tremens con- 
signed him to his eternal doom, and when one generation of drunkards was 
swept away, their places in the catalogue of sin and wretchedness, were 
supplied by a portion of the same persons who had been so zealously en- 
gaged in fruitless eff'orts to reclaim them. 

Tt is but a just concession to the claims of humanity, to suppose that even 
those who have become drunkards had, while in the possession of a sober 
understanding, commiserated the condition of the miserable victims of 
alcohol. But there was a fatal error at the foundation of all the benevolent 
efforts for reclaiming drunkards, which entirely defeated the purpose. This 
error consisted in the supposition, that intoxication was the cause of the 
wretchedness and ruin which follow the use of fermented and spirituous 



38 FIRST DAY r.Vr.SlSG SESSION. 

liquors as Jiink ; while, in fact, drunkenness is only the last and the smallest 
of the evils resulting from the desolating cause, which is destroying the 
virtue, the happiness, and the lives of a vast portion of the human race. 
This cause is to be found in the habitual use of liiose liquors, without any 
reference to the fact of intoxication. The moderate drinker daily takes 
into his stomach a quantity of those liquors, when, from the warmth of 
ilie body, they undergo the process of distillation, and the subtle poison 
finds its way to the brain, where, by its consuming power, all the finer 
sensibilities of that most delicate organ are destroyed. While yet he is 
regarded as but a moderate drinker, all the desolations of mind and character, 
which result from the use of those liquors, stand out in bold relief; and 
when this destructive habit shall complete its work by an occasional fit of 
intoxication, it adds but little to the catalogue of evils which it had before 
infiicted upon liim. 80 long as men supposed that no evil resulted from 
moderate drinking, relying upon the sirengih of their good resolutions to 
abstain from taking so much as to make themselves drunken, they continued 
to indulge in the destructive poison ; and the fact that, when the moral and 
intellectual deterioration was efiecled, they crossed the line of demarcation 
which separates between the condition of the moderate drinker and that of 
the drunkard, was the very reason why the ruinous result of drinking, short 
of intoxication, was not understood. Men saw all around them the misery 
and the crime which are always seen among people who use fermented and 
spirituous liquors as drink, but they saw these evils principally in connexion 
with drunkenness, and they heard the public voice mistakenly charge them 
upon drunkenness, instead of charging the drunkenness itself, and all its 
attendant evils, to the destructive power of alcohol upon the mental and 
moral energies of man. Here was the grand mistake which lulled to a fatal 
ideal security the devotees of Bacchus, with all the host of cider, beer, and 
spirit drinkers, who vainly imagined that they might safely indulge in mo- 
deration, and yet stand firm oji the temperate side of the line of demarcation. 
It is evident that no man would ever cross this line, unless his resolution, 
his moral perception, his self-respect, and the alTeclions of his nature, were 
first greatly impaired ; and yet it is an appalling fact, that one-third of the 
adult males in the United States do cross lliis line and die drunkards ; and 
let it ever be remembered and often reiterated, that it is that use of fermented 
and spirituous liquors which is not accompanied with intoxication, that 
brings them up to and actually puts them over this dreadful line. This fact 
being now admitted, let it be proclaimed to the world in tones of thunder, 
that alcohol in any form, or in any quantity, when taken into the human 
stomach, is a corroding poison, and that its habitual use produces a diseased 
slate of the system, which ultimately exhibits itself in an utter disregard of 
all the moral and social obligations of man, accompanied with the positive 
exhibition of ail the vices and miseries which alllict our race. And let it 
also be remenjbered that these miseries and vices are no more chargeable to 
drunkenness than drunkenness is to them ; they are all exhibited together, 
as the inevitable result of the position in which moderate drinking has 
placed its hapless victims. Moderate drinking has put them over that line 
of demarcation which separates between resolution and prostration — between 
virtue and vice — between soberness and drunkenness ; and all the desolation, 
and all the ruin of the mortal frame and the deathless mind, are the natural 
result, not of dnmkenness, but of the use of fermented and spirituous 
liquors as drink. 

Behold, then, the thousands of polluted streams which, flowing from the 
brew-house, the cider or wine press, and the distillery, and by means of the 
license -(VxiiMn, spreading through r\ cr^- city, town, and hunlet in the land, 



ADDRESS OF ARNOLD BUFFUM. 39 

are involving in mighty ruin the fairest hopes of heaven ; and raising high 
the standard, let a line of demarcation be drawn between the friends of the 
temperance reformation and its opposers. On virtue's side will stand, en- 
couraged with hope, all who enlist under the banner of total abstinence ; 
on the other side, far down the vale of misery, will be seen, descending 
into the drunkard's grave, the notoriously intemperate ; in their rear, and 
following in the same broad way, will appear the host of unreclaimed mo- 
derate drinkers. From the drunken leader of this numerous band, to the 
last follower who takes his glass but once a month, will be one unbroken 
chain ; not a link will be wanting to render the connection plain, and the 
succession sure. 

Suppose the temperance societies should discontinue their exertions, and 
the temperance reformation should cease to go forward, when the thousands 
of drunkards who now curse our land, shall have been summoned to the 
bar of God, by whom will their places in iniquity and wretchedness be 
supplied ? — when they shall be crying for one drop of cold water, to cool 
the tip of their tongues, by what class of persons will the army of drunkards 
be filled ? Come, ye moderate, temperate drinkers, who say that a little is 
good, and that in moderate drinking there is no harm — come, tell me, if ye 
can, in a few fleeting years, when death shall have arrested the career of 
those that have crossed, before you, the line which separates between the 
moderate drinker and the drunkard, who but yourselves will then be seen 
tottering on the brink of the eternal world, with reddened eyes, bloated 
face, and carbuncled nose — with despairing wife and famished children— 
with a body full of disease, and a soul full of guilt — without the comforts 
of this life, and witliout the hope of the future ? 

Have you ever seriously contemplated the origin and progress of the 
disease of intemperance? — have you marked the gradations by which the 
drunkard has been brought to his wretched condition? Perhaps, when he 
was in his mother's lap, a smiling innocent lamb, fit for the purity of hea- 
venly joy, his unsuspecting mother, in some pleasant cordial, administered 
the first seeds of that loathsome disease wherewith he is now afflicted; as 
he grew to be a fine boy, his father may have given him a little from his 
own glass, and he may have heard both his parents say that a little is good, 
and that in moderate drinking there is no harm. When he became a man, 
he often found occasion to remember this saying, — if he was cold, a little 
warmed him; if he was hot, a little cooled him; if he was wet, a little would dry 
him; and if he was ill, a little would cure him ; at any rate, on all occasions 
he thought he was quite sure that a little would do him no harm. Some- 
times, to be sure, in an unguarded moment, he would take a little too much, 
but then he would most manfully resolve never to do so again. But, alas, 
the drunkard's resolution is written on the sand, and one glass of rum will 
wash it away; the disease of intemperance was now preying upon his vitals ; 
his constitution had undergone a decided change ; without the aid of artificial 
excitement, his spirits would droop and his limbs would tremble. When he 
arose in the morning he found a little was very good, and he still thought it 
could do him no harm, — it braced his nerves, gave vigor to his mind, 
and very much strengthened his emaciated frame; at nine o'clock his system 
was again exhausted, and again required excitement; again at twelve, and 
again at four. Poor miserable victim of fermented and spirituous liquors, 
now a confirmed drunkard and outcast from society, — his children are 
growing up in ignorance and vice, — his wife has gone down, with a broken 
heart to the grave, — he stands tottering on the brink of eternity, without 
comfort and without hope. Is this a picture of an enthusiastic imagination 
only, or is it but a faint representation of the sad reality ? Reliert for a 



40 FIKST DA\ LVtMNG StSSION. 

moment, and you will call to your recollection cases, perhaps among your 
near and dear connections in life, of a more ao^g^ravated character than it is 
possible for the tonn^iie to descril)e ; and tell me, ye moderate diinkers, what 
has the pleasures of the jh)\ving bowl to give, — what the joys of hilarity 
and mirih, — wiiat the scenes of revelry and riot — to compensate for the 
forfeited enjoyment of sobriety and virtue ? Even should you feel strong 
enough in resolution, in virtue, or in religion, to continue to indulge an 
occasional glass without danger to yourselves, consider, I entreat you, the 
powerful influence of your example upon those around you, and especially 
8uch of you as are parents, upon your own children. Everywhere we see 
the sons of moderate drinkers become intemperate ; the father took a little 
because it was good, and because a little would do him no harm ; the sons, 
being more early initiated into the baneful habit, it grew upon them with 
their growth, and strengthened wiih their strength, until they have fallen 
miserable victims to this ruthless destroyer. 

Even the wives and the daughters of moderate drinkers are exposed to an 
infectious atmos|)here, which not unfrequently proves fatal to the fairest 
portion of the creation of God. She who was made to comfort and cheer the 
lonely condition of man, and with the hand of afTection to wipe from his brow 
his sorrows and his cares, through the baneful example of a loved husband 
or father, falls a victim to intoxication, and, from a smiling angel of love, 
becomes :i demon of confusion, of wirkedness, and shame. Oh ! ye fair 
daughters of Columbia, shall it ever be told that ye too have become the 
victims of intemperance.' Will ye part with all that is amiable and lovely for 
the maddening bowl ? No, we hope better things of you, and on you we 
rely as the most efficient and enduring promoters of the temperance re- 
formation ; you form the minds of our cluldren in helpless infancy, and on 
you it devolves to impla;it in their bosoms an abhorrence of evil and a love of 
virtue. Hut let not your eflbrts in this good work be confined exclusively 
to your children ; perhaps, some of you have a husband, a father, a bro- 
ther, or a friend who indulges himself with just a little when he thinks 
it will do him no harm. When you return to your respeclire homes, such 
of you as have some dear friend who is in this dangerous practice, tenderly 
invite him, in the endearing language of love, to allow you to plead with 
him for his own safety ; if he be a Christian, call upon him in the name 
of religion; if a patriot, in the name of his country; if a philynthropisl, in 
the name of his fellow men, to set an example such as he would wish the 
world to follow. If he be a father, call upon him in the name of his chil- 
dren ; gather them around his knees; hang iliem upon the skirts of his 
garments; call forth all the sensibilities of his soul, and implore him, wiih 
the irresistible persuasion of nature's language, to set a good example before 
his olTspring, that he may leave to them the inheritance of virtue, infinitely 
more valuable than the richest inheritance of gold and siher. Entwine 
your endearments around his heart, if he have any sensibility left, and 
plead with him, lor the love he bears you, to fly from this all-conquering 
enemy, before whom kings and emperors have fallen, stripped of all their 
glory. 

A few there are among the professed friends of morality, virtue, and re- 
ligion, who strenuojisly maintain that they have no occasion to unite with 
a temperance society, — they can lake care of themselves without being 
bound by a written pledge, — they can take a little when it will do them 
good, or they can let it alone. To such, I must say, you arc the chief ob- 
stacle to the complete triumph of this blessed cause ; the example of one 
such drinker is productive of more evil, than that of a hundred drunkards ; 
you give re.spectability to a ruston) which is spreading death and desolation 



ADDREtJS Oi AKNOLU BIJFFUM. 41 

all arounii you ; you uphold the manufacturers and the venders ol' the soul- 
destroying poison ; you alone are answerable for the continuance of the 
licensing system ; the disease of intemperance is already making its ravages 
upon you ; it has weakened your resolution, and closed your eyes to your 
own danger, and is conducting you on to the brink of a precipice, from 
which thousands as wise, as virtuous, and as loved, have miserably fallen 
before you. 

Were the friends of temperance to follow your example, ihe temperance 
reformation would be arrested in its course ; the streams of moral pollution, 
of wretchedness and wo, would continue uninterruptedly to roll on, and 
in ten years the disease of intemperance would hurl five hundred thousand 
of our countrymen down to the drunkard's grave ; and five hundred thousand 
more, by acting on your principle, would be transformed into confirmed 
drunkards, and many of yourselves would be found among them. 

There is yet another class who, though strictly temperate themselves, 
and wishing well to the temperance cause, think it would be degrading for 
them to sign a written pledge to abstain. Many of these think themselves 
too good to associate with such men as are most active in the temperance 
reformation, and therefore they stand aloof from all co-operation in that 
great moral revolution, which God, by ihe hands of his servants, is now 
carrying forward for the renovation of the world. To such I can only say : 
you are acting the part of the priest and the Levite, who passed by a fellow 
creature in distress, on the other side. You behold thousands around you 
whose families are made wretched, and who themselves are going down to 
endless wo, for want of the healthful inlluence of your active and persever- 
ing efl'orts to reclaim them ; you hold, under God, their destiny for time 
and for eternity in your hands ; you have talents committed to you to im- 
prove for their good, but you bury them in the earth ; you are like the 
fruitless fig tree, which only encumbered the ground ; you are of those that 
know to do good and do it not, and to you it is sin ; and when the glorious 
day shall arrive in which there shall be joy in heaven for those who, by 
the instrumentality of others, have been plucked as brands from the burning, 
and they shall be united in singing the praises of Him who has redeemed 
them by his blood from the pit of pollution, where then will be those 
feelings of arrogance and pride which are now exhibited in thanking God that 
you are not as other men are. He whom you profess to serve, has mani- 
festly put forth his hand in this great work ; his truth is pledged that it shall 
prosper, and shall not fail ; it is one link in the great chain of events which 
is to prepare the world for the universal reign of the Prince of peace ; and 
will not you be persuaded to contribute your share to the promotion of this 
glorious cause ? 

Reverently should we send up our orisons of thanksgiving and praise, 
that the Father of mercies has been graciously pleased to open our eyes to 
the necessity of one great and united efl^ort in opposing that torrent of ruin, 
which, as a mighty deluge, was threatening to sweep all that was fair and 
lovely from this chosen land of his heritage. 

Reverently should we bow in humble adoration of his goodness, that he 
has been pleased to put forth his own Almighty arm to stay the flood ; and 
that in the thick and dark cloud which has so long overshadowed our land, 
he has permitted us to see the dawning of a bow which gives the promise 
of a brighter and a better day. 

6 



42 IIR^T DAY — tVL.M.NtJ :JESS9lON. 



ADDRESS OF THOMAS P. HUNT. 



THE DLTV OF TE.MrKUANCE MEN AT THE BALLOT BOX. 

The lruj)\c in intoximling drinks is dunf^crotts to the morah and to the 
prosperiti/ of the country, and inuat be prohibited. 

ll is not necessary to enumeralc, in detail, the evils which have resulted 
from tl»e traflic in poisons, to sustain this proposition. The proof relied 
upon, at present, i.s this : every state and kingdom in Christendom has given 
it as a reason for attempting to control the tralhc, by» what is called, the li- 
cense system. In seeking to place the trade in the hands of good men, and 
excluding it from the morally incompetent, the object is to guard the public 
from the abuse and nuisance of the trade. How far this object has been 
attained, is seen in the characters and doings of most of those who are re- 
commended and licensed. If to beat a wife, to curse and swear, and adul- 
terate liquors with poisons, to violate the Sabbath, encourage gambling, 
allure the young, and destroy the old, be qualifications required by law to 
obtain a license, then verily most of the grogmen are not found wanting in 
their attainments. The object of the law, however, is defeated. It is high 
time that the license laws be repealed, and the retail trafl'ic be prohibited. 
Those nuisances, over which are hung caricatures of Washington, Franklin 
anil Penn, are a disgrace to the land, and an ofl'ence against heaven. 'I'hey 
ought to be uprooted and destroyed. 

Some o!)jcctions against the repeal of the license laws will be attended to. 

1. I f 'c inxDit provide placet where travellers can be refreshed. — I'oisons 
and refreshments are not necessarily united ; and the traveller may be more 
comfortably accommodated without the miserable concomitants of grog- 
shops, than with them. 

2. /hit travellers have a right to select their own refreshments. — Ad- 
mitted. Hut they have no right to demand that the public shall provide 
them. Has the gambling and libertine traveller the right of demanding le- 
galized accommodations for his sensuality and crime ? By what right, then, 
does the drunkard claim it? 

3. But tee plead only for the moderate drinkers, and not for drunk- 
ards. — The e-xperience of ages proves that moderate drinkers can do without 
drink for a short period, without inconvenience. And tliere is not one of 
them who would not regard the contrary afl'irmation as an insult. Besides 
no vender would engage in the business, if the gain were to be derived sole- 
ly from the strictly moderate drinker. But, be this as it may. — The exist- 
ence of a rum hole, has always been the nursery of idleness and crime. 
No traveller, who, without inconvenience to him.self, can do without such 
places, — and he who cannot, is not moderate, — has the right to demand that 
every cross road, and lane, and corner in the land shall be filled with nui- 
sances for his use. 

4. But regulate them properly. — This cannot l>c done. If they are pro- 
per and safe, like other good institutions, they will regulate themselves. If 
unsafe, they cannot be made useful. The moral tendency of licensing a 
dangerous evil, must always be unfriendly to virtue. Such a system can 
never, never make vice promotive of morals nor safe to the country. If in 
days, when good men, even ministers of the word, and rulers in /ion, and 
communicants of the church, distilled and sold and bought and used the 
poihon, the expressions came in use, " sober as a parson," '* drunk as a 
deacon," "fuddled as a churchman;" — if where respect was paid to law 



ADDKISS BY THOMAS P. HUNT. 43 

ami men endeavored to execute its intentions, drunkenness increased until it 
was diflicult to tell who was sober, — what are we to expect in these days, 
when vice and abomination walk Ibrth in high places, and men in authority 
patronise the grog shops, and court their influence I It is about as safe to 
trust children with powder in a blacksmith's shop, or brewers withnux vomica, 
as it is to expect that human nature, as it is, and intoxicating drinks can 
come in contact without producing evil. The experiment to prevent this 
evil, by licensing it, has been as signal in its failure, as it was unwise in 
its conception. No stranger, nor traveller, has a right to demand that it 
shall be continued. For their gratification, millions of money have been 
wasted, hundreds of familes made miserable, thousands of souls ruined. It is 
time that society refuse to listen to the demand of the sensualist, who cannot 
move, unless rivers of beer, and lakes of wine, and oceans of gin be provided 
for him during his journey. It may refresh him, but it is disease and death 
for the families and neighborhoods that may be so kind to him, and cruel to 
themselves, as to furnish such accommodations. 

It is a subject worthy of examination, whether the establishment of inns 
does more harm or good. How far do they tend to increase or to diminish 
the virtues of the heart? Is it not possible that they injure the land, in a 
way not much observed, on account of the silence of its operation ? No 
allusion is made here to the offers of temptation to idleness and dissipa- 
tion, nor to the character of many often connected with license houses. 
But investigations may show, that the general tendency of public houses 
may be to weaken, and, ultimately, to destroy some of the most lovely and 
wholesome requisitions of the gospel. And whatever has this tendency 
ought to be watched with unwearied vigilance, and to be guarded with 
most jealous care. It is admitted, that public houses of some kind may be 
necessary or useful. But too much anxiety for travellers' accommodation, 
and too little regard for gospel principles, may have been manifested in 
this matter. Does providing a grog shop or a tavern for strangers, fulfil 
the injunction of Christ, " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers"? Sup- 
pose Abraham had sent his travellers to an Inn, would he " thereby have 
entertained an angel" ? It is somewhat doubtful whether this duty is per- 
formed by licensing a public house, in which the stranger may tarry, if he 
have money, or be turned out, if he have not. Again : Does the sending 
of strangers to public houses fulfil the command, "Be given to hospitality"? 
If so, great is the hospitality of some countries, and great the holy obe- 
dience of some Christians. For throughout the whole land, almost in sight 
of each other, are these hospitable institutions to be found, where the stranger, 
at his own cost and charges, may be laid under a weight of gratitude to 
those whose houses and furniture cost thousands of dollars, yet who have no 
room, nor bed, nor meat for him, whom his Saviour commands them to enter- 
tain, and to whom they must be hospitable. Does not the multiplying of 
public houses furnish an excuse for the neglect of the Christian duty of hos- 
pitality ? Do they not lead to avarice and selfishness ! and, in this way, 
do more harm than tliey ever did good? When in the South, taverns were 
few and far between, strangers were gladly received, kindly treated, and 
found a home and friend, wherever they went. The superabundance of the 
gifts of a kind providence was cheerl'ully shared with the traveller. And 
the intercourse, and interchange of kindly feelings and offices, the guest 
receiving hospitality, and the host information and instruction, often formed 
friendships stronger than death. But these days are fading away. Taverns 
are springing up every where. Butter, and eggs, and feathers, and oats, and 
grass, and time, are now becoming money ; and the traveller may now find 
at one end of the union the hospitality he left at the other, which mostly 



14 FIRST DAY EVENING SESSION. 

consists ill leaviiiir, too olieii lo sli-^irkiiig Bonifaces, llie iliscliargc of e\«'iy 
Chrislian obligation lo ilie stranger!! 

5, But how could all the atrangers be accommodated amongst us, with- 
out public-housf^ / — li is not artirined that public-houses are not in part 
necessary, but ilie ditlicultv of the whole subject consists more in the sel- 
fishness of the heart, than in the nature of the case. 

Since ihe passage of the law in .Massachusetts, lo break up tippling-shops, 
the inn-keepers came lo a mutual mulerslanding not lo open iheir houses 
on a Court-week. The judges, lawyers, jurors, witnesses, plaintiffs, and 
defendants arrived. In his own door stood each landlord, his arms folded 
in proud independence — stable-yards shut up. " No entrance nor entertain- 
ment for man nor beast. 'I'he Legislauire has attempted to interfere with 
our rights. We will sell nothing, furnish nothing, unless we can do as we 
please." What was to be done ? The citizens of the place rang the lown- 
bell, called a meeting, distributed the visitors among them, and in a few 
hours, all were acccmimodaied — and the gr<»gites began to lind thai they had 
caught a Tartar. Now what was ihe result of this experiment .' All were 
contented. 'I'he vicious, nol liking virtuous company, returned lo iheir own 
homes, as soon as ihey could ; anti the temptalions, obscenities, and vice, 
usually making a Court-week to be dreaded, were unknown. And ihus, we 
believe, it woulil be every where, did men love " lo welcome the coming 
ind lo speed the parting guest." Public taverns, in every age and country, 
kill the generous feelings of ihe soul. Would the Saviour have been born 
in a manger, had there been no inns in Bethlehem ? Would we not now 
frequently hear the man of Cod inquiring, according lo the Scrij)turcs, who 
amongst us was worthy, and abiding with us, if taverns were not ihe repre- 
sentatives ol' our hospitality '. Would holy men come and go, without our 
knowing it ? Wcjuld ihcy be compelled to inquire for grog-shops, instead 
of holy families, in which they might tarry, if men professing godliness 
were to practise it more ? \n the last judgment this sentence will be pro- 
nounced : — " I was a stranger and ye look me nol in ; inasmuch as ye did 
It not unto one of ihese that believe in me, ye did it not to me." W ill the 
negkclors of ihis duly escape, by pointing to licensed taverns, and saying, 
" Lord, behold ihe perlormance of our duly, in providing for vonr friends 
a resting-place in the synagogue of salan, because it cost us no lime, nor 
money, and saved us from much inconvenience and occasional impositions "f 
Kxcuse as we may, yet there is a defect here thai requires attention. 
Whether taverns are tlic result of siltisliness or create it, the neglect of 
Christians, on this subject, is loo fnquent, and too evident; mid the olden 
days of gospel hospitality will never be restored under the license system. 
When Christians ^hall more frequently open their houses to strangers, and 
admit them to their homes and their firesiiles, giving, not grudgingly, but of 
a free will, niuch of that vice and inlemperame, which now make taverns 
necessary, will be banished. But, be this as it hiay, the license system of 
making ilrunkards must be done away. No stranger nor traveller can demand 
the sacriljce of our families, our hopes, our peace, that wine-bibbing travel- 
lers may gel drunk according to law. The license system must be stopped — 
bill how ? 

When Sawney was ioiind stealing into a garden, with intentions best 
known to himself, the owner asked him where he was going. *• (.loing bock 
agin," was his reply. So good men must go back again lo first principles. 
Thev enacted the license nyslem, and gave it their inthience by accepting 
the appointment of retailers. What good man would retail hydrophobia ? 
Net the death of the drunkard is a.s certain, his disease as horrid, ami his 
end more awfid than the hydrophobisl. Never :i ilrunkard died without the 



ADDRKSS OF THOMAS P. HUNT. 45 

aid of a vender — and never a drunkard died that was not danuied. ('an 
any good man lend his influence to such a work of everlasting death? No, 
no — let every good man set his face against it. Never let his opposition to 
it cease, until the traffic is forbid, and the contraband trade branded with 
that odium which is affixed to the abominable, yet much less mischievous, 
crimes of counterfeiting and of sheep-stealing. Let gootl men do their duty 
at the POLLS, where they did the mischief, and the work will be done. 

7. What! make temperance a political affair? — Why not ? Is it not 
so already ? Is it not a part of the policy of the country to license the 
traffic? It must be changed. Will a wine-drinking, rum-elected Legisla- 
ture do it? No ; never. Will a grog-drinking, rectifying, distilling, retailing 
set of constituents ever do it ? No. Good men must do the deed, or it 
will never be done. 

8. But you ivill weaken the moral force of temperance, by mixing it 
with politics. — Well, if we do, we will improve the politics by the mixture — 
and that will be something worth gaining. But do the grogmen weaken 
their influence by mixing it with politics ? Is not this the way they have 
governed the land ? Do they not work constantly by night and by day ? 
Do they hesitate any where, any way, on all occasions, to exert their whole 
influence in elections ? — and do they weaken their cause by it? No. Let 
us be as wise as they are, and we will soon grow stronger than they are. 
They will go, in a body, for men who will favor their cause, and they op- 
pose with '■'■tooth and naif'' all who oppose them. Does it weaken their 
cause ? No ; nor will it ours. The only way to enable the moral influence 
of temperance to gain its whole strength, is, to let it be practically felt, car- 
ried out on all occasions where it can be exercised, and is demanded. This 
is the great beauty and excellency of moral influence — it is not weakened, 
but strengthened, by practice. Whenever good men will cause their influ- 
ence to be felt, they will be respected, and not before. How do matters 
now stand ? The moral portion of the community is regarded as a craven- 
hearted set of cowards, who live, and speak, and act, only by the courtes}' 
and charity of their opponents. So long have the wicked frightened good 
men with tlie cry of " Church and Stale," or sou.e other charge, equally 
false and absurd — so long have they occupied all political influence, and 
controlled the destinies of the country, entailing upon it disaster, ruin, and 
disgrace — that they believe, in their hearts, that good men have not the 
moral courage, nor the right, even to complain of the union of more sin 
than virtue, more self than patriotism, which they have been making so 
long, to the dishonor of the very name of anything that is just, or equal, 
or decent. Under this belief see how they act ! The most profligate, 
gambling, swearing, murdering, unchaste speiidlhrift may be nominated as 
a candidate. They care not for us. We must vote for him, or we will 
ruin our religious influence, or divide the party. Our wishes on most sub- 
jects are disregarded, and if opposed by the wicked, are neglected and 
refused. And what is the reason ? Because they know that we will either 
vote for them again, or which is the same thing, keep away from the polls. 
And, as they believe, so we have acted. But, say they, " Let us neglect to 
hear the grogites — let us not consult them — let us oppose their views ajid 
wishes — let us abate one jot of their demands, and a day of swift vengeance 
awaits us. At the ballot-box we hear from them." They know it; they 
feel the moral iniluence of the tippler-maker, and respect it most profoundly, 
because the wicked are not slow to vengeance, nor ungrateful to those who 
serve them best, (until they can get others to serve them better.) And so, 
when good men determine to vote for no man to any office, who is not the 
enemy of all tippling houses, both small and great — when it is known that 



■Iti URST UAV EVENING SESSION. 

tliey will call to account ofticers for disregarding their lawful wishes, and 
luaiiifesl their disapprobalioii of llieir misdemeanor at ihe ballol-box, we 
will see that the moral inlluencu of our cause is not weakened. Morals are 
worth nothing, if they are unlit to be acted out consistently, wherever they 
can act. 

'J. liul will i/ou not lone some men of injhienct from your side, who 
luve jjulilics mure lliua they do morals/ — Like enough, liut it is no loss 
to get rid of such men. Judas never thought of betraying his master, until 
he could not have the price of the alabaster box of cosily ointment bestowed 
to his keej)ing. All who keep company with us, because they carry the 
bag, may foisake us ; but no friend of temperance will ever take sides 
against us, and with the enemies of virtue and of good order. However 
mucli they may desire to be kept out of the scrape, when the battle rages 
they will be found with us. For the moment they herd with the bulls of 
liashan, all will know that they never were our friends. 

lU. Jiul will not the grog-men sell themstlces to any party that will 
protect them? — 'I'liey oliered to do so in .Massachusetts. But hydra-headed 
in baseness as party politics may be, where can you find a pariv mean 
enough to be bribed by drunkard-makers, with drunkards I But if it were 
so, what party would be profiled .' Winch has most to gain, and most to 
lose, by sweeping those moral pesls, the grog-shops, from liie land I Men 
ol all pulilical creeds are our warm and devoted friends — and here is our 
slrengili. It the grog-men sell their politics for rum proteclion, and form a 
parly under ihe banner of Bacchus and " blue ruin," there will not be a 
Iriciul of good morals found among ihem — -all such will be on our side. 

1 1. Hut hud you not better wait until a more opportune time of carrying 
this question to the polls/ Great interests are at stake, and you may so 
weaken our cause us to ruin us. — Who is it that makes this objection.' 
Is it a \'an Bureiiile? No. Verily he would blush to own that his success 
depends on the patronage of bottles and gills. Is it a Whig .' Why, no — 
he would feel it an everlasting disgrace to avow that the strength of his 
party could be weakened by Jack JSnipes and Zachariah Snoodle. Who is 
It then .' Why, nobody will own such a child of corruption and of lolly ! 
But suppose they did, now is the very lime for us to move. The parties 
are straining every nerve. At the next election Greek will meet Greek, 
'i'hey need every man they can get. They cannot afl'ord to lose a few thou- 
sands. 'IMiey know that every honest poliiical scheme can be executed as 
well by men who are opposed to luhOy-Ooring and grog-shops, as by the 
Itjhsicr-moving machines of gin-loving propensities. Let them give us men 
that we can consistently vole for. Let the politicians make the selections, 
and decide for themselves. If they believe that their strength and laslness 
are found with the grog-men, let them go with them — but we cannot keep 
them company. Let them light it out by themselves. J^et us be wise, and 
while they are licking their wounds, panting and exhausted in the combat, 
we will run away with the prize. But if the friends of intelligence and 
morality, of domestic peace and public tranquillity, be worthy of respect, 
let ihem give us men who will respect us. It is not desired by us to nomi- 
nate, nor to dictate what individuals shall be nominated. All that we ask 
IS — present a ticket pledged against lobby-boring and the license system. 
The politicians will scarcely dare refuse us ; for ihey well know we have 
/.eal and strength enough to make a ticket for ourselves. Their weakness 
is our strength. Let this upportunily pass by, and long will it be ere again 
It occurs. 

There never was a time, when it was convenient for men, elected by the 
enemies of inoralitv, to attend to the moral welfare of the community. 



ADDRIiSS OF THOMAS P. HUNT. 



i7 



Siicli a measure savors too much of religion, of a kingtlom not of this 
world, to suit the theory, inclination, and practice of many, whose virtue 
is, to please the people, and whose patriotism, to take care of themselves. 
Party politicians are almost always too busy to find time to serve the cause 
of God and of morals. 

Can any legislation that does not directly promote virtue, or that indirectly 
protects vice, secure the only lawful end of all legislation — that of advancing 
the honor and the happiness of the country ? No, never. And shall we 
for ever remain silent ? Shall we always wait until it suit men who never 
intend to get ready to act with us ? Shall we never dare to demand that 
virtuous men, who alone can or will make and sustain virtuous laws, shall 
be our representatives ? If morals are ever attended to as they ought to be 
by legislators, it will be by those who are elected by good men. Let good 
men, then, cease to help the wicked, — let them select men who will give 
morals a prominent place in legislation and in their own actions and afTec- 
tions. And now is the time to do it. 

12. But would it not be better to leave to the constituted authority the 
correction of the evils of society ? — In America there is no authority, but 
God, above the people. They alone have the right of saying how society 
shall be governed. That good men claim and exercise the right of appoint- 
ing moral men as their constituted authorities, is what we demand, andi/oif 
resist. We do not throw all the blame upon the authorities. Even the 
honest execution of the license laws, as they now are, will not, cannot 
remove the evils of which we complain. But the constituted authorities 
have failed in their duty. Seven tippling houses were convicted at one 
Court, and fined one cent and costs! Two poor women, sent by an alder- 
man to give evidence before the grand jury, had the cost to pay and were 
threatened with the jail for doing their duty. One of the grand jurors was 
a distiller, and swore that he would have the bill ignored. A minister of the 
gospel, subpcenaed as a witness against a disorderly house, had the costs 
thrown upon him, and he would have been cast in jail, had not a friend 
paid them for him. Drunkards by scores are fined a trifle, not for being 
drunk, but for being found so, and sent to the prison to be supported by the 
public, until they become sober. Eemonstrances, signed by the most in- 
fluential and respectable men, have been treated, in the language of an 
alderman on the bench, as " a damn temperance humbug." Men who beat 
their wives, most notorious drunkards, against whom civil process was even 
then in the hands of the constable, and known to be so at the time by the 
Court, have been licensed. Men of notorious bad character, recommended 
by rum sellers and distillers living out of the vicinity of the nuisance, have 
succeeded against the desire of neighbors, property holders, and inhabitants 
of the districts. Instances might be adduced of men high and men low in 
authority, drinking on the Sabbath day in grog shops, open contrary to law. 
The constituted authorities need reforming. It would be as consistent to 
set the devil to watch the truth, as to depend on many men even for the ex- 
ecution of laws, defective as they are. 

13. But why not iirge the Legislature to alter the laws? — So we have. 
Petition upon petition has been sent, and disdained to be noticed. Woman 
in her loveliness has entreated — but woman has no vote, and her prayer 
was disregarded. Petitions have been sent in, and, when received, placed 
in the hands of a committee, the chairman of which was a distiller; and, of 
course, no more was ever heard of them. One petition, directed to be 
presented by the unanimous vote of an assembly composed without reference 
to party, and signed by upwards of 1,400 signatures, was not noticed. 
And why? Because there ivas nobody there to (dtend to it. Well, we do 



IM FIRST DA\ LVtM.NO SEi>SlUN, 

iioi wisli to be represeiilcd by nobody any longer. We can rtnd sonubody 
that will attend to our wishes, or, if we cannot, we can and will at least 
TRY to do it. Until we have done this it is folly to urge the Legislature, 
that can be bored and have been bored until tliey will hold nothing that is 
good. When will the friends of their country be wise I Christian patriots 
and philanthropists vote for men whose hands are stained in " honorable 
murder," and then petition the murderers to j)unish themselves ! Most 
absurd ! Patriots and parents elect drunkards and drunkard-makers to the 
Legislature ; record their votes with the most abandoned in society, for the 
most profligate; then petition drunkards, or the advocates and dependents 
on grog shops, to break up the very system to which they owe their power 
and elevation, and upon which they arc dependent for their continuance ! 
•Shame on such inconsistent conduct ! Let us do the only thing that can 
be done to urge the Legislature to protect us from the taxation, crime, and 
wretchedness caused by the traffic of inioxicatins drinks : — withdraw our- 
selves from those unfriendly to our cause, and support sound men and 
true. 

14. liitl oiiqht not prudence to direct you i — Yes; any measure that 
is contrary to sound prudence, or Ciirisiian expediency, is contrary to the 
dictates of sound morality. Hut what is prudence I Where there is nothing 
to lose, and every thing to gain — when the object is lawful, cannot injure, 
and probably will do good, is it prudent to engage in it, or not ? Most cer- 
tainly. Now what have we to lose by urging this cause at the polls ? The 
grog-men have already, have always done it. UfHcers for being faithful in 
the discharge of their duty against them, have been turned out for no other 
cause ; while many are afraid to do their duty, fearing the same treatment. 
Our best men have been rejected for no better reason than that of not bemg 
grog-bruisers. The road to popular favor, to preferment and honor, is pro- 
scribed, unless it lead through feasts, at which wine flows, or at treats where 
baser drink is furnished for baser men. We have been despised and scoffed 
at, neglected, ridiculed. Our wishes arc neither consulted nor respected. 
By the blessing of CJod, our cause has forced itself on through the burning 
enmity, the unyielding opposition, the foul slander, the bitter revilings, and 
the cold contempt of its enemies ; while many who make great professions 
of friendship for us, yd dreading that exercise of it which calls for suffer- 
ing and sacrifices in a cause they love, have left us to struggle without the 
aid of their sympathy, which is bestowed at wine parties, and over bottles 
of beer, amidst the plaudits of the sensualists, or those who hale us most 
intensely. We have nothing to lose. If defeated, we stand ** as we were.'" 
For already we are but hewers of wood and drawers of water to political 
demagogues. The Egyptians are our masters. They cannot serve us worse 
than they have done. 'I'hey have already i)iitchered our sons — impoverished 
and made miserable our daughters. They have established a palace for 
drunkards, and in heavy taxes loo grievous to be borne, compelled us to pay 
an amount of many thousand dollars yearly, to worthless vagabond loafers. 
They have occupied our offices — disgraced our country ; they have blown 
up our stcaml)0ats, shipwrecked our ve.ssels, overturned our stages and cars, 
filled our grave-yards, crowded our jails, erected the gibbet and furnished 
the victims, fired the mob. defied the law, desecrated our holy rest, been the 
caterer of vice in all its most odious forms, crowded us in coaches, and 
steamboats, and cars, with the fo»lid breath of drunkards, fed the cholera, 
educated children in idleness, ignorance, and vice. What more can they 
do, than they have done ? Let the gamblers, and unclean, and drunkards, 
and those who are their friends and abettors, conquer us, and still we have 
lost nothing ; but we will gain much in ihe satisfaction of having done our 



ADURESS OF THOMAS P. HUNT. 49 

duty, and the consciousness that we are able to make the eflbrt to do it. 
Our defeat may enable them still to rule the country with poverty, and tears, 
and crimes. But it will teach them that they shall never, no never, boast 
again that we took sides with them, in electing men like unto themselves. 
But, we can succeed. Already has Tennessee set the example. Massa- 
chusetts has followed it. Pennsylvania! the land of Penn! has it no 
strength ? Are there not men who love the name and revere the memory of 
him, who never swore, nor broke his word, who will carry out his princi- 
ples ? Yes — yes. To the polls then, and tell it there, — there testify against 
the traffic in intoxicating drinks. There proclaim the tidings : Those 
who have made the nations drunk with their wine, are fallen ! are 

FALLEN ! ! 

1 5. But is there not danger that the principles you advocate will be adopt- 
ed, and carried out by other bodies, and for other objects l^ — If they are 
correct they ought to be. None ought ever to vote for any man who refuses 
to do whatever his station can do, and that which must be done in his 
station. The enemies of morality carry it out always. They are wise. 
What do they want with representatives ? To do their bidding ; to carry out 
their views on all legislative subjects. They will have none other, and ihey 
are right in principle, and accountable to God for their practice. Do Bank 
and Anti-bank men vote for those opposed to their views ? Well, why 
should we be required to vote against our views and our understanding ? The 
duty of all men is, to let their moral influence be felt, to cause it to pervade 
every avenue, through which access may be obtained, for the promotion of 
virtue, and of truth. That laws not only indicate public sentiment, but also 
have a powerful influence in moulding public morals, none will deny. If good 
men keep away from the polls, bad men will flock to them, and elect men 
of their own views. And what is the consequence? Let scenes in Harrisburg, 
within sound of the click of the state-house bell, answer. We repeat it: 
It is in vain to expect the enactment of wholesome laws, and the execution 
of such as are enacted, until men, who love virtue, cause it to be done. A 
moral influence must be exerted at the ballot box ; that is the place to begin 
and to end the matter. Whatever the Legislature can do to promote the 
cause of humanity, and of literature, ought to be done, — and whatever it 
alone can do, must be required of it. Those who do not demand that action, 
or silently acquiesce in its neglect, have failed of their duty. It is admitted 
that bad men may, nay, that bad men have, and do act on the principle for 
which we contend. It is also admitted that danger may, nay, has accrued 
from bad men adopting and acting upon it. For this there is but one remedy: 
Let good men take hold of it too ; let all enjoy the privilege. It is right. 
No man without sin against his God, his country, and himself, can vote for 
men and for measures, which will defeat his views of what is right and best 
to be done ; or which will sustain a course opposed to his convictions of duty 
and of truth. 

16. Bi(t will not the country be ruined by such a contest? — No. The 
carrying out of this principle is the only thing, with God's blessing, that 
can save the country. The providences of God, in relation to our land, have 
been most remarkable. Whether in maddening the counsels of the mother, 
or in giving wisdom to the daughter — in weakening the loins of the mighty, 
or in strengthening the hands of the weak — in awakening the breeze, or in 
hushing the storm — in every stage of our country's history, God has dealt 
with us as he has done with no modern nation. None can imagine that 
all the aff'usion of love, and profusion of light, all the wonderful doings 
of the Lord, do not justify the expectation of beholding some coming glory, 
more bright, pure, extensive and permanent than the world has ever seen. 

7 



aO HBST VA\ EVENING SESSION. 

If rivers and mountains, and ideal lines, do not separate from the aflections 
of our Father, that family which he has made of one flesh, to dwell upon 
tlie earth, we may conclude that what is done amongst us, is done for the 
whole world, 

.^ covjlict for principle, distinguishes us from all other people. For gold, 
or conquest, the canvass was spread, and the unknown way lempted by other 
colonies. For conscience sake and for principle the Saxon blood now 
flows in American veins. To ihis conflict there has been no truce, no 
respite, from the foundation of our country to this present hour. Nor will 
there be. until every theory be examined, every principle tested, that fools 
may dream, or wise men prove. Heretofore there has been nothing too 
sacred to escape attack, nor too valuable to remain untouched. Every 
relation of man to man, and of man to God, has been, or will be sub- 
milted to the test of truth, or to the torture of error. Vain is the hope of 
checking this struggle. It gave our country birth and being. It has been 
its milk in infancy, its meat in manhood, and will be its strength in age. Can 
it then ruin tlie country ? No. The Lord has selected our land for the 
glorious battle-field of intellect, virtue, and liberty, atrainst ignorance, vice, 
and despotism. He hath done great things for the world tlirough us. He 
will do greater. He hath given to our keeping the oracles of truth and of 
freedom. He will give grace to enable us to preserve them for the world. 
But these privileges must be valued, and this grace sought, or our light will 
become obscure in noon-day, and darkness will cover the people, and gross 
darkness the nations. 

America is not only the refuge of the oppressed ; it is also the den of the 
fugitive from virtue, the cave of the bandit of ignorance and vice. If none 
but lovers of truth came amongst us, and none but the friends of truth were 
born in our midst, then had our fathers, in gaining us victory, given us rest. 
But it is not so. The slave of the despot, the votary of superstition, and 
the gormand of vice, allured, not by our virtue, but our flesh pots, come 
amoner us, not to be free, but to be drunken. They are met by our corrupt, 
and mingle with our own depraved. Vice and ambition and avarice are 
ready to employ both in a warfare against truth and morals. In other coun- 
tries the confused noise of the warrior drowns the voice of reason ; and the 
sword and the sceptre arc teachers of rights. But with us, we have, nor need 
no such auxiliaries ; our warriors are our citizens, and our teachers arc our- 
selves. Our rulers and our ruled arc all one and the same ; and we must 
settle the question of the extension, perpetuity, and blessings of our |iresenl 
form of civil and rclieious liberty. And we will settle it. Virtue or vice, 
ignorance or knowlcd^'c, will triumph. Let the conflict go on. Give fair 
play ; and no desponding fears will move us, even thouph again and again 
(iefeatod. Hope brightens as the battle rages fiercest. We cannot despair 
of our country's glory becoming the fjlory of the whole earth, so long as 
our citizens will fearlessly examine any principle, theory, or practice, we care 
not what. Nothing is so much to be dreaded as the peace of the graveyard, 
wliere all is corruption, or the stillness of death, where all is silent and impo- 
tent. The battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift. But 
defeat has never yet been known when love gave speed, justice strength, and 
truth led the host. The lagirard in love and the dastard in truth can never 
triumph over those, whose hope is in God, whose object is his glory, and 
whose guide is his wortl. There is no cause of dread, nor of failure, unless 
truth and humanity shrink from tlie conflict. We know that the victors must 
expect the smut of battle. But there are Washingtons, and Greens, and 
Warrens, and Stuarts in truth as well as in war, who will not regard their faces 
nor their linen, if the bunting flag of truth and liberty may be saved from 



LETTERS READ. 51 

the fool of the enemy, and float in mild triumph over every foe. Let the 
conflict for principle rage on. It is the hope, the safety, and the glory of 
oi>r land. Give it up, and the designing, and wicked, and destroying will 
soon leave nothing wortli weeping for, of all that countless treasure which 
now exalts us, in point of privilege, to heaven. Carry it on, and the enlight- 
ened, and pure, and virtuous must triumph. Gird on the truth. Let our in- 
fluence be felt wherever it can tell on earth, and wherever we will be account- 
able for it in the judgment. Give no rest or aid to the enemies of temperance. 
If they can do without us, we do them no harm by withdrawing from them. 
If they cannot, why should we become responsible for their sins, by giving 
them our aid to keep undisturbed possession of the land, not to bless it, but 
to curse both ourselves and them ? Go on, and fear not. For until the 
enemy can scale the battlement of heaven, and pluck the crown from the 
brow, and the sceptre from the hands of the God of love and of truth, we 
and our country, and our cause are safe. 



EXERCISES OF THE SECOND DAY. 



On the morning of the 15th, at 10 o'clock, the spacious saloon was again 
filled with a highly respectable and intelligent assembly. The exercises 
were commenced by reading the following letters: 

Troy, N. Y. January 8, 1838. 

Respected Friends: — Your letter on the subject of the Pennsylvania Hall, 
was received some days since, but owing to peculiar engagements I could not 
well reply to it till this morning. I need hardly say that I feel a deep interest 
in your movements. I trust the spirit of old Pennsylvania is awaking from 
its slumbers, and will make itself known through all this republic. It has 
been a matter of deep regret, that no place among you has been open to 
free discussion. Yours is the last city in the Union where this fact ought 
to exist. And I do rejoice, that a few friends of liberty are now about to 
roll away this reproach. I trust the whole country, as well as your city, 
will feel the influence of your enterprise. 

In relation to the invitation which you have given me to make an address 
at the opening of the Hall, I feel much gratified by the favor you have con- 
ferred upon me. I accept of the appointment, and, if a kind Providence 
permit, I shall endeavor to fulfil it. 

Most respectfully yours, 

Nathan S. S. Beman. 

Messrs. Samuel Webb, Wm. H. Scott, — Committee. 



Troy, N. Y., April 12, 1838. 
My Respected Friends: — I received your kind letter informing me of the 
arrangements made for opening the Pennsylvania Hall, some time since, 
and have been waiting for more light in regard to the will of Providence 
respecting my own participation in the scenes of that truly important era in 
your city. When I accepted your appointment, I had no doubt but I could 
be with you and perform the part assigned me. Indeed, I felt highly 
honored in your choice, and my feelings were deeply enlisted. But since 



5'4 SECOND DAV MORNING SESSION. 

Uie early part of Fe!)ruary, my health has been much impaired, and is at 
this lime very precarious. h>uch are my deep convictions as to my own 
inability to I'ultil the high duties which have been kindly assigned me by 
the committee, that I ought no longer to postpone the painful ta<k ot" advising 
you of the fact. I know you will feel a disappointment in this matler, 
but I do assure you it should be otherwise if it were in my power. My 
own heart is wiih you ; my best etlorts in the cause of freedom and in favor 
of the oppressed should be made on that occasion, had I strength to embark 
in this truly beneticent work. But Providence has decided otherwise, and 
it is my duly to submit. May all these matters be directed for good, and 
our very disappointments lend to advance the cause. As to your enterprise, 
it is a noble one. It was called for, and 1 trust it will prosper. We cannot 
sell the rights of conscience, the freedom of speech, and the liberty of the 
press. We cannot forbear to express our abhorrence o( chuiits and alripes; 
and should we do it, ihe very stones would cry out. I rejoice that there is 
a spirit still in existence, and still awake, in your venerable city, that will 
not bow to the altar of slavery, nor tamely submit to the dictation of those 
who declare, in high places, that it is a wise and holy institution, and that it 
shall be perj)etual. What a contest is this to be waged in a land of 
liejjublicunism and a land of Christianity ^ IJulif the charters of these two 
systems — the Declaration of Independence and the Uible — are permitted to 
speak, how certain it is that the rights of man will be triumphant. 

With deep and heartfelt sympathy in your movements, and with the most 
cordial and personal regard, 

I am yours truly, 

Nathan S. S. Be.man. 

Mt-ssi-s. Samuel Webb and W'm. H. Scott, — Cvi/imittee. 

PiiiLAUELi'HiA, February 7, 1838. 
Respected Friends: — I received your note inviting me to be present at the 
opening of the Pennsylvania Hall, on the loth of May next. My engage- 
ments prevented an immediate answer, which I intended to return in a day 
or two, but it has been deferred until the present time — a delay .""or which 
I have no sulhoient apology. If it be possible, without great inconvenience, 
I will attend. What specific olijects you have in view, apart from free 
discussion, I have not heard ; but that they are honorable and priise worthy, 
I have no reason to doubt. The fact that the right of free discussion has 
been called in question by men in high places, is itself a. ground for direct- 
ing public altenlion to the danger that threatens it. If we submit to 
encroachments upon this right from one quarter, they will soon assail it 
from another. 'I'he right to speak and to write without any restraint, other 
than that which represses licentiousness and calumny, and also the right to 
petition governments for a redress of grievances, are among the most sacred 
and inviolable of all rights, and must not be abridged or questioned without 
a firm re.'^istance. They are to be fearlessly asserted at all times, in all 
places, and under all circumstances ; I will listen to no man who talks of 
exigencies that may justly suspend the exercise of this right. No such 
exigencies can ever arise. 

I am, Willi much respect, your friend, 

Walter Forward. 

MfS»i"«. Samuel Webb, \N . ll.Si-ott, ami Win. M'Kee, Cwtmittee. 



WAsniMiTON, January 30, 1838. 
Friends: — I received, on yesterday, your esteemed favor of the 2tilh 
instant, and I congratulate you, and the country, that in your city a Hall has 
been erected, sacreil to libertv and free discussion. Born in Pennsvlvania. 



LETTKKS HEAD. 53 

but at a very early age removed into the Western country, I was a citizen 
of Ohio, at the time of the adoption of her Constitution, and during the 
greater part of the last tliirty years have borne an humble part in the 
legislative assembly of my own slate, where by my best efforts I have 
constantly endeavored to maintain and establish those great principles, in 
support of which your society is now engaged. I feel unable to express 
my heartfelt emotions on receiving your invitation to be present at the 
opening of the Hall in the emporium of ray native state, a city renowned 
for its philanthropy and benevolence, and now affording new evidence of 
those estimable virtues, by ihe erection of a hall, in which liberty and 
equality of civil rights can be freely discussed, and the evils of slavery 
fearlessly |)ortrayed. While the spirit of slavery is grasping at the power 
of our country, threatening a disunion of the states unless free discussion 
concerning it be destroyed, and even in the free states marking its progress 
in scenes of blood, it is a cause for joy and gratulation that Pennsylvania — 
that Philadelphia is about to consecrate one spot, at least, where its evils 
may be fearlessly portrayed. Slavery is a spirit which hates the light, 
because its deeds are evil, and to banish it entirely from our country, free 
discussion alone is amply sufficient. I rejoice in the awakening energies 
of the country, and in receiving almost daily assurance that my fellow 
citizens are determined to maintain those inalienable rights, without which 
they would be in a situation little in advance of the African slave himself. 

I will, if life and health permit, endeavor to be present at the opening 
of your Hall, but I would gladly dispense with the delivery of an address 
on that occasion, could I do so consistent with your wishes, as I 
cannot suppose myself capable of adding any information to that mass 
which is already before the public, on this interesting topic: but whatever 
feeble service I can render to the great and good cause in which you are 
engaged will be cheerfully offered. 

You will for yourselves, and those whom you represent, accept the as- 
surance of my highest regard. 

Thomas Morris, 

Messrs. Samuel Webb, J. M. Truman, and Wm. M'Kee, — Committee. 

The following leter from Thomas Morris was also received by the Com- 
mittee, but not in time to have it read. 

Washington, May 11, 1838. 

Gentlemen: — I have seen in the Pennsylvania Freeman of the 3d inst., 
with sensations of the deepest gratitude, the favorable notice you have been 
pleased to take of my name in your general invitation to the public to attend 
the opening of the Pennsylvania Hall on the 14th of the present month, 
which Hall, I understand, is to be dedicated to free discussion. 

It would afford me the highest pleasure to be present and join you in 
this work of universal charity and love, could I feel that my public duties 
as well as my health would justify it — domestic concerns having lately 
called me to Ohio; I have but just resumed my seat here ; it seems proper, 
therefore, that I should not willingly, at this time, absent myself from the 
Senate. 

Your Hall, as I have said, is to be dedicated to free discussion. What a 
train of solemn reflections does the very thought create in the mind. Is it 
possible, that in the free state of Pennsylvania, in the quiet and orderly city 
of Philadelphia, (a city not inaptly called the city of " brotherly love,") that 
in all places, and at all times, /ree discussion on all questions connected with 
the religion, morality, the welfare of the country, or the rights of man, 



54 SECOND DAY MORNING SESSION. 

cannot be liad with safely to the citizen, and the peace and quiet of the 
community? I presume tliis cannot be the case in your city, and was not 
the great moving cause that induced your humane, pliilanthropic, and pa- 
triotic citizens to erect the Hall which they are about to open. 

If, however, Pennsylvania is safe, if Philadelphia is secure from all 
attempts to put down the right of free discussion, the liberty of speecii, and 
the press, your fellow citizens have seen and lelt that all parts of our be- 
loved country is not thus highly favored. It is gratifying, indeed, that 
while the enemy of human rights and constitutional liberty is, in our coun- 
try, making rapid advances to power, endeavoring as far as in him lies, 
not only to silence discussion, but even to muzzle the press itself, knowing 
that his principles cannot stand the test of examination, Philadelphia has 
the honor to erect a barrier which he cannot pass, and a l)attery which he 
cannot silence, but which will eU'ectually destroy his whole power, by the 
consecration of a spot where all his pretensions may be fully and fairly 
discussed. 

This act of your citizens I regard not as a local act merely. It is not for 
Philadelphia alone to receive its benehts, but the whole country — the whole 
world. Its objects are universal and impartial justice to all men in every 
condition, to establish each in his own inherent, individual, and unalienable 
rights, to give warning of approaching danger, and stay the rod of the 
oppressor; and as such, we claim for the day of consecration a bright page 
in the history of our couiury. 

Every philantlin)pisi, every moralist must mourn and deplore the riots, 
burnings, and murders, that of late have taken place in our country. Your 
own recollections will be sudicienl to place before your minds scenes of the 
most outrageous atrocity. How often has tidings of the destruction of tlie 
press, because it has spoken fearlessly in defence of human rights, tingled 
in your ears ? Have you not heard tliat free born American citizens have 
been, by a lawless mob, subjected to the infamous torture of the whip? Has 
not the weapon of tiie assassin laid its victim bleeding at his feet, for no 
crime, for no act but that which you intend to practise in tiic Hall you 
have erected — the exercise of the right of free discission. While 1 rejoice 
that your citizens are embodying themselves to inarch forward to the rescue, 
1 mourn for my country that this same fell spirit which has urged mobs, 
not only of the " baser sort," but of citizens who claim to be respectable, 
to deeds of violence and blood, has found its way in some degree into the 
councils and olllcial stations of the country, into the bosom of society, and 
I much fear into the very I'lLrix itself, thus rendering insecure all that is 
dear and sacred to man. 

I would willingly draw a veil over the proceedings of that body, of 
which I have the honor to be a member, in regard to the important right of 
free discmsision, if the deep sense of the obligations of duty which I feel to 
you and the country would permit me to do so. 'I'his same spirit, which 
you are about so nobly to rebuke, has been able, in the very halls of Con- 
gress, to silence debate at its pleasure. It has been able to strike its deadly 
fangs into the most vital part of American liberty. It has denied the right 
of petition, in all its essential qualities, to a large portion of our fellow 
citizens, on a subject they deemed worthy of their highest consideration, and 
materially atfecting the honor and interest of our country. If it were 
possible, I would that I could persuade myself not to believe this, but while 
the records of our country bear witness to the fact, it cannot be. I fervently 
pray that the tear of some recording angel may yet be dropped upon the 
words of shame and dishonor, and blot them out for ever. 

If the supreme legislature of the country can rightfully, in anyone possi- 



LETTERS READ. 55 

ble instance, refuse to receive, hear, and act upon petitions sent by any 
portion of the Jmmun race who are subject to our laws, or owe allegiance 
to our government, I can see no safe guarantee for this high privilege in any 
case whatever, when it shall come in contact with power, interest, or 
influence. For if an individual right which was deemed of a character too 
sacred to be regulated or controlled by the people themselves, by their 
highest fundamental law, (the Constitution,) and placed by that instrument 
above the power of Congress to abridge, can be withheld or restrained by 
that body, it is hard to discover what political or natural right you, or I, or 
any other citizen, can calculate upon as secure. If the right of petition fail 
us, will it not prove that the whole fabric of the Constitution is rotten and 
not worth our care ; its preservation in such case for any valuable purpose 
might well be considered doubtful. 

It is not only the right of petition that has been abridged. The free- 
dom of debate has been stricken doivn, and lies dead in the halls 
Congress. We are compelled to submit not only to a rule which imposes 
silence on a question to lay a motion or proposition on the table, and which 
a majority can always use to put an end to discussion disagreeable to them, 
however important it may be to others ; but the country now mourns the loss 
of one of her most talented sons, whose life, it is believed, was sacrificed for 
the exercise of the right of free discussion in the very hall of Congress itself. 
It would be some consolation if, in the midst of this war upon individual 
rights, this want of personal security, this waste of political privileges in 
the chambers of legislation, the judiciary of the country remained firm and 
uncontaminated. But here we have also to deplore, that the incendiary 
with the torch in his hand scarcely extinguished, with which he had 
attempted to fire his neighbor's dwelling, because of that neighbor's exercise 
of his unquestionable right in the free expression of his opinion ; and the 
mobocrat who has attempted to silence the press by its destruction, together 
with the assassin whose red hands are yet dripping with the blood of his 
innocent victim, find not only protection but favor; — and this new code of 
morals which would impose restraint upon the expression of our thoughts 
because the truth may affect some pecuniary interest, or expose some 
wicked practice, teaches the doctrine that a printing press may be broken 
up, a man's house may be burned, and the owner slain by violence, 
and yet no one be guilty ! It has been said, and I think truly, that 
the verdicts of juries give the character of the country. What, then, will 
be the character of our country before an impartial world, if juries shall 
continue to lend themselves to this same spirit of misrule, and violence, and 
blood ? 

But if we withdraw our views from the constituted authorities of the land, 
from men in official stations, and extend it over the country at large, what 
do we behold ? The Bowie-knife and the pistol substituted for reason and 
argument, usurping the power of the laws, or setting them at defiance, — 
the actors professing to draw the example from high places of power, and 
justifying themselves by the actions of men who claim to be among our 
most respectable citizens. It is against the freedom of speech, the right of 
free discussion, that these ruffians in society wage their fiercest war. 

I am aware that it may be thought that I have written hard things against 
my fellow citizens ; but do not the facts that exist justify me? And should 
I not be faithless, indeed, and recreant to all my principles, if, when writing 
to you on the important event which you are about to celebrate, I should 
either fail or fear to express my thoughts fully and freely ? If I did not do 
so, I might well be considered a mocker of the institutions I profess to 
honor. The picture 1 have presented, I know is one not calculated to 



56 SECOND UAV MORNING SESSION. 

flatter our vanity ; but it is no fancy sketch — ii has all liie painl'ul vividness 
of reality. 

We should ponder on the signs of the limes with serious deliberation. 
We have been and are still a prosperous and favored people ; but I fear that 
in the eyes of Mini in whose hands are our destinies, and who can search 
the heart, we are viewed as a proud and sinful nation. And if his chaslise- 
inents have not already comraenced, our wickedness, without repentance, 
must call them down at last. 

To understand our errors, and know the evil that besets us, is tlie first 
step towards reformation. To examine into, and ascertain the causes which 
have produced those evils, is necessary to their radical cure. This exami- 
nation 1 shall now alleinpt. There is implanted in our very nature a 
love of power and dominion, no doubt for wise and beneficial purposes ; but 
dominion, in the creation of man, was only given him over "the fish of the sea, 
the fowl of the air, the cattle, and every creeping tliine that creepeth upon 
the face of the earth." It was never intended by the (Creator that man 
should have dominion over his fellow man, but by his full and free consent. 
Had this been intended, it would have been given when the boundaries of 
man's dominion were fixed and established. Tiie exercise, then, of all 
power which subjects man to involuntary servitude, and to a dominion to 
which he has not given his full and free consent, is a violation of the laws 
of heaven, and contrary to the very nature of man, who, though formed for 
dominion and imbued with its love, yet has authority from iiis Maker to ex- 
ercise it only over inanimate matter, and over creatures not made in the 
awful image of God ! 

But when man became wicked and corrupt, he began to usurp dominion 
over his fellow man, reducing the weaker and less guarded portions of the 
race to the condition of the cattle of the field. This, however, could not 
totally destroy the principle of reason within the immortal creature thus de- 
graded ; he knew still that he was entitled to the same rights ;ls his fellow 
man, and that his condition was the elTect of gross injustice and grinding 
oppression. This produced the constant strife between the ojipressed and 
the oppressor, the fruitful source of violence and crime through all time, 
and created the desire and stimulated the action of those in power lo pre- 
vent, as far as possible, all examination into the rights of man as established 
by his Creator. 

The exercise of dominion begat tho love of ease and opulence. This 
could more readily be obtained by appropriating to his own use the labor of 
others without any just compensation therefor. Thus the love of money, 
the root of all evil, grew and expanded, [n our own time and day, those 
principles which our fathers intended lo subdue and eradicate, if possible, 
in llie formation of a Constitution founded upon the natural and unalienable 
rights of man, iiave sprouted afresh, with a luxuriance which is calculated 
to fill the mind of the just and good with deep and solemn reflection. 

i have heard it asserted by a sagacious statesman of our own country, 
that il was one of the unchanged and unchangeable laws of Providence that 
one man should live upon the labor of another, that this always had and 
alwavs would be the case, and that jlmcriran slavrri/, as il (.risted in the 
Southrrn states, was ihi hcst htinuni modification of that loialfcrahle decree. 
'I'his was the language of a Soulhorn gentleman, from a slaveholding slate. 
The practical operation of this despotic system, of man as an individual 
usurping dominion over man, and endeavoring lo live upon the labor of 
others, began in our country with ihe slaveholders, and its ramifications are 
now seen and felt in all parts of our country. 'J'he desire lo live upon the 
unrequited labor of others is acquiring a dreadful universality. It is the 



LETTKKS READ. 57 

slaveholding power, — this Goliath of all monopolies, — tliat now brandislies 
his spear and threatens the overthrow of our most essential rights, and the 
most sacred of all our privileges. It defies even the Constitution, itself, to en- 
gage in single combat. It claims to be before and superior to that instru- 
ment, which it contends has acknowledged its superiority, and has guaran- 
teed its existence and perpetual duration. It imperiously asserts that it has 
converted men into property ; and, as a matter of course, any person, when 
he becomes a citizen of the United States, has a right to the enjoyment 
and use of this species of property, in each and every state in the Union. 
It is upon this false position, that a person can be converted by law into a 
thing, that slavery rests its whole claim — a position at war with the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and which ought not to be sustained in our 
courts of justice. It is provided in the fourth article of the amendments to 
the Constitution, that the right of the people to be secure in their persons 
against unwarrantable seizure sliall not be violated ; and that warrants, when 
issued, shall particularly describe the persons or things to be seized. I 
suggest, then, as the settled conviction of my own mind, that our courts of 
justice cannot rightfully adjudge that a negro slave is property, because he 
IS NOT A THING, and property consists in things only. That he may be 
claimed as owing labor or service to another, does not shake, but confirms 
the argument. 

If the free states intend to continue free, as it respects negro slavery and 
all its concomitant evils, they must not permit that system to take one single 
step beyond its constitutional, legal, and present geographical boundaries. 
If it can break one bar of its enclosure, it will be like the unchained lion 
escaping from his cage — it will make war upon and destroy every obstacle 
that opposes its onward march. It will be insatiate until all constitutional 
barriers which may impede its progress shall be broken down and destroyed ; 
we shall be unable to stay its fury, or appease its rage, or again reduce it 
to constitutional limits ; and the consequences will be that our entire liber- 
ties will be annihilated. The evils and propensities of the slaveholding 
system, which I have but faintly attempted to describe, are not the workings 
of imagination. I draw on sober realities and solemn facts. Who in our 
country justified slavery during the war of the revolution ? No one, who 
was willing to defend his country from the grasp of the oppressor, or shed 
his blood in defence of her liberties. Who justified the practice, or con- 
tended for its perpetual duration, at the close of that memorable contest ? 
Not a single hero or patriot of that day. Did any one attempt to make its 
chains more strong, or bind its victims more securely, or enlarge its borders 
by any constitutional provision? No, not one. Slavery at that day was 
deemed so dissonant to the principles of American liberty, that none were 
found to render it so much respect as to insert its name, or even the word 
" slave," in the Constitution. 

All then looked for and desired the speedy downfall of the entire system ; 
and Congress proceeded to fix limits to its power, and rebuke its practice 
upon every possible occasion, as in the ordinance in the year 1787, for the 
government of the North- Western territory, and in subsequent acts passed 
after the adoption of the Constitution. 

But slavery flattered the pride of man, because it enabled him to extend 
his legitimate dominion beyond its just and rightful landmarks. It gratified 
his cupidity by increasing the means of enjoyment. It was adhered to, not 
as a political, but as an individual claim, and was left subject to the power 
of the laws, and in that day, like all other subjects, it was freely discussed 
at all times and in all places without fear or restraint. But what is the con- 
dition of the country now ? Slaves have increased vastly in number, and 

8 



58 SKCOND DAY 3I0RMNC. SKPSIOX. 

the power of the slaveholiler in equal degree. The acquisilioii of J.ouisiana 
gave new impulse to this power, but it was never practically demonstrated, 
until the application bv Missouri to be admitted into the Union. It was on 
this occasion that the first triuviph was obtained on the floor of Coris^ress, 
hij the slaveholdirtg power, over the Constitution of the United States, as 
well as that of Missouri. The people of Missouri formed for themselves a 
Constitution, in which ihev had given their liegislalure full autliorily to pro- 
hibit the inlroduclion of any slave into that state, for the purpose of specu- 
lation, or as an article of trade or merchandise. When she presented her- 
self for admission into the Union, tlie slavcholding power in Congress 
objected to the exercise of this authority remaining with her lejrislators, 
aid the final compronii^ie was not to compel Missouri to change her Con- 
stitution, but that hrr Legislature, by a .'ioleniu jniblic act, to be made in 
pursuance of a resolution of Congress, should provide and declare that the 
before-mentioned provision in her Constitution should never be construed 
to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law should be passed in 
conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the states of this 
Union, should be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and 
immunities to wliich such citizens were entitled, under the Constitution of 
the United States. This compromise, which T consider one of the darkest 
pages in the liistory of Congress, though submitted to by the people of 
Missouri, was severely rebuked by them at the time. This was the first 
open step to place slavery under the provisions of that Constitution which 
was formed for the safety and security of liberty. It assumes the principle, 
though covertly, that man may be made property, and that a citizen of cither 
state, has a right to make merchandise of him if a slave, to use him in trade 
as a chattle, to sell him in any state in which slavery exists, for the purpose 
of speculation, and that such state has no power to prohibit the sale. This 
to my mind is a monstrous principle, and at open variance with every pro- 
vision of a Constitution, immolated, in this compromise, on the altar of 
slavery. The slaveholding power having thus obtained a foothold on the 
ramparts of the Constitution, by a violation of its spirit and its letter, 
now claims that violation as evidence of the right itself, and boldly asserts 
that the Constitution recognises slavery as one of the institutions of the 
country, and that the right of the slaveholder to his slave is derived from 
that instrument. It is here the question must be met, and decided. The 
arrogance of the slaveholding power, in trampling down the right of peti- 
tion, and denying the freedom of debate, are only consequences resulting 
from this assumption of power, and is a foretaste of what we may expect, 
when it shall have completely established itself (should it be permitted to 
do so) within the provisions of the Constitution. That instrument will 
then be no longer what it now is, the home of Liberty. It will be made its 
grave. Tiiis is the first great and combined interest in this country which 
strikes at eciual ritrhls. but all other special and local interests have the same 
tendency, when they claim peculiar or exclusive privileges. 

The monied interest is next to be feared, and whenever that or any other 
shall have acquired sufllcient strength to induce or influence Congress to 
Icirislate for its special benefit, there will be an end to that equality of rights 
which the Constitution designed to establish for the benefit of all. 

That our liberties are assailed, and individual as well as political rights 
disregarded by men in high places of power, none I think will presume to 
deny ; but that the I'nion or the Constitution are yet so far endangered as 
to create despondency, I can by no means admit. The unnatural matter 
which slavery is attempting to engraft uj on the Constitution, will soon be 



POETICAL ADDRESS OF J. O, WIIITTIER, 59 

blown ofl' by the brealli of popular opinion. The remedy for all evils in 
the system or administration of our government is in the hands of the peo- 
ple, and FREE DISCUSSION — discussion without fear of the pistol of the 
duellist, the knife of the assassin, the faggot of the incendiary, or the still 
more dangerous fury of the unbridled mob, — that free discussion which the 
people must and will have, soon will work out an effectual cure. It is not 
in the nature of man to remain for ever deprived of his rights in a country 
like our own. 

But free discussion must be practised to produce its salutary effects. You 
and your fellow citizens of Philadelphia have set a noble example. Though 
the sectarian and bigot may exclude you from his sanctuary, and the cringing 
sycophant to power may shut you out from the Halls erected at your ex- 
pense and consecrated to justice, yet you are not discouraged, but have 
again erected your own Hall for a noble purpose — for the purpose of that 
free discussion, without which religion would languish, and liberty and 
justice would die. 1 congratulate the friends of equal rights every where 
on this praiseworthy effort, I trust its influence will be productive of much 
good to the human race. I hope that it may cross the mountains and descend 
the valley of the Mississippi, until free discussion shall have restored the 
purity of the Constitution, and the reign of righteous law. It will be then, 
and not till then, that the value and merit of your proceeding in this matter 
will be duly appreciated, and Pennsylvania will be considered as having 
furnished new evidence that she is, in reality, the Keystone of our po- 
litical arch, THE ARK OF OUR POLITICAL SAFETY. 

With great respect, I am, gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

Thomas Morris. 
Joseph M. Truman, Wm. H. Scott, Wm. ]\IcKee, Samuel Webb — Committee. 



The following poetical address, written by John G. Whittier for the 
occasion, was then read by Charles C. Burleigh. 

ADDRESS. 

Not with the splendors of the days of old — 
The spoil of nations, and " barbaric gold" — 
No weapons wrested from the fields of blood. 
Where dark and stern th' unyielding Roman stood, 
And the proud Eagles of his cohorts saw 
A world, war-wasted, crouching to his law — ^ 
Nor blazoned car — nor banners floating gay, 
Like those which swept along the Appian way, 
When, to the welcome of imperial Rome, 
The victor warrior came in triumph home. 
And trumpet peal, and shoutings wild and high, 
Stirred the blue quiet of th' Italian sky ; — 
But calm, and grateful, prayerful, and sincere. 
As Christian freemen only, gathering here. 
We dedicate our fair and lofty Hall, 
Pillar and arch, entablature and wall, 
As Virtue's shrine — as Liberty's abode — 
Sacred to Freedom, and to Freedom's God ! 



60 SECOND DAY MORXIXO SESSION'. 

OI loftier Halls, 'neaili brighter skies than these, 
Stood darkly mirrored in the /Egeaii seas, 
Pillar and shrine — and lil'e-like statues seen, 
Graceful and pure, the marble shafts between — 
Where glorious Athens from her rocky hill 
Saw Art and IJeauly subject to her will — 
And the chaste temple, and the classic grove — 
The hall of sages — and the bowers of love. 
Arch, fane, and column, graced the shores, and gave 
Their shadows to the blue Saronic wave ; 
And statelier rose on Tiber's winding side, 
The Pantheon's dome — the Coliseum's pride — 
The Capitol, whose arches backward llung 
The deep, clear cadence of the Roman tongue— 
Whence stern decrees, like words of fate, went fortli 
To the awed nations of a conquered earth. 
Where the proud Casars in their glory came. 
And Hrulus lightened from his lips of flame ! 

Yet in the porches of Athena's halls, 

And in the shadow of her stately walls. 

Lurked the sad bondman, and his tears of wo 

Wet the cold marble with unheeded tlow ; 

And fetters clanked beneath the silver dome 

Of the proud Pantheon of imperious Kome. 

() ! not for him — the chained and stricken slave — 

By Tiber's shore, or blue .Egina's wave. 

In the thronged forum, or the sages' seat. 

The bold lip pleaded, and the warm heart beat — 

No soul of sorrow melted at his pain — 

No tear of pity rusted on his chain ! 

But this fair Mall to Truth and Freedom given, 

Pledged to the Right before all earth and Heaven, 

A free arena for the strife of mind. 

To caste, or sect, or color unconfined, 

Shall thrill with echoes such as ne'er of old 

From Roman Hall, or (Jrccian Temple rolled ; 

Thoughts shall find utterance, such as never yet 

The Piopylea or the Forum met. 

Beneath its roof no gladiator's strife 

Shall win applauses with the waste of life — 

No lordly lictor urge the barbarous game. 

No wanton liais glory in her shame. 

But here the tear of symj)alliy shall flow. 

As the car listens to the talc of woe — 

Here in stern judgment of the oppressor's wrong 

Shall strong rebukings thrill on I'reedom's tongue — 

No partial justice hold th' unequal scale — 

No pride of caste a brother's rights assail — 

No tyrant's mandates echo from this wall. 

Holy to Freedom and the Rights of All! 

But a fair field, where mind may close with mind. 

Free as the sunshine and the chainless wind ; 



POETICAL AODRKSS OF J. G. WHITTIF.R. 61 

Where the high trust is fixed on Truth alone, 
And bonds and fetters from the soul are thrown, 
Where wealth, and rank, and worldly pomp, and might, 
Yield to the presence of the True and Right. 

And fitting is it that this Hall should stand 

Where Pennsylvania's Founder led his band. 

From thy blue waters, Delaware ! — to press 

The virgin verdure of the wilderness. 

Here, where all Europe with amazement saw 

The soul's high freedom trammelled by no law ; 

Here, where the fierce and warlike forest-men 

Gathered, in peace, aroilnd the home of Penn, 

Awed, by the weapons love alone had given 

Drawn from the holy armory of Heaven — 

Where Nature's voice against the bondman's wrong 

First found an earnest and indignant tongue — 

Where Lay's bold message to the proud was borne ; 

And Keith's rebuke, and Franklin's manly scorn ! — 

Fitting it is that here, where Freedom first 

From her fair feet shook off the old world's dust, 

Spread her white pinions to our Western blast. 

And her free tresses to our sunsliine cast. 

One Hall should rise redeemed from Slavery's ban — 

One Temple sacred to the Rights of Man ! — 

O ! if the spirits of the parted come. 

Visiting angels, to their olden home — 

If the dead fathers of the land look forth 

From their far dwellings, to the things of earth — 

Is it a dream that with their eyes of love, 

They gaze now on us from the bowers above ? 

Lay's ardent soul — and Benezet the mild. 

Steadfast in faith, yet gentle as a child — 

Meek-hearted Woolman, — and that brother-band, 

The sorrowing exiles from their " Father land," 

Leaving their homes in Krieshiem's bowers of vine, 

And the blue beauty of their glorious Rhine, 

To seek amidst our solemn depths of wood 

Freedom from man, and holy peace with God ; 

Who first of all their testimonial gave 

Against th' oppressor, — for the outcast slave, — 

Is it a dream that such as these look down. 

And with their blessing our rejoicings crown ? 

Let us rejoice, that while the Pulpit's door 

Is barred against the pleaders for the poor — 

While the Church, wrangling upon points of faith. 

Forgets her bondmen suff'ering unto death — 

While crafty Traffic and the lust of Gain 

Unite to forge Oppression's triple chain, 

One door is open — and one Temple free — 

A resting-place for hunted Liberty ! 

Where men may speak, unshackled and unawed. 

High words of Truth, for Freedom and for God. 



62 SECOND DAV MORXIXC SFSSION. 

And wlicn that Truth its perfect work hath done, 
And rich with blessings o'er our land haih gone — 
AVhen not a slave beneath his yoke shall pine, 
From broad Potomac to the far Sabine: 
When unto angel-lips at last is given 
The silver trump of Jubilee in Heaven ; 
And from \'irginia's plains — Kentucky's shades, 
And through the dim Floridian everglades. 
Rises to meet that angel-trumpet's sound, 
The voice of millions from their chains unbound — 
Then, though this Hall be crumbling in decay. 
Its strong walls blending with the common clay. 
Vet, round the ruins of its strength shall stand 
The best and noblest of a ransomed land — 
Pilgrims, like those who throng around the shrine 
Of Mecca — or of holy Palestine I — 

A prouder glory shall that ruin own 

'I'han that which lingers round the Parthenon. 

Here shall the child of after years be taught 

The work of Freedom which his fathers wrought— 

Told of the trials of the present hdur. 

Our weary strife with prejudice and power, — 

How the high errand quickened woman's soul. 

Ami touched her lip as with the living coal — 

How Freedom's martyrs kept their lofiy faith 

True and unwavering, unlo bonds and death, — 

The pencil's art shall sketch the ruined Hall, 

The Muses' garland crown its aged wall. 

And History's pen for after times record 

Its consecration unto Freedom's Gon I 



liEWis r. GuNN, of Philadelphia, then addressed the audience on the 
*' Jfi^fil of Free Diacussion,'' in an extemporaneous speech, which he has 
since written out. 

ADDRESS OF LEWIS C. GUNN. 

To a foreigner it may seem strange that in this boasted land of liberty it is 
necessary to speak on the right of free discussion. Accustomed to hear our 
va\intings of freedom of speech and of the press, of mind and of conscience, 
this is the last subject which he would expect to hear argued anywhere iu 
the I'niled States, much less in the stale of Pcnn, and in this city of bro- 
therly love. But, strange as it may seem, the churches and public halls of 
Philadelphia are closed against the advocates of human rights ; and, I 
believe, there is not a building in this city, except the one in which we are 
now assembled, large enough to accommoilate such a meeting as this, which 
could have been obtained for the advocacy even of that most valuable of all 
rights — the right of free discussion. The fact can be no longer concealed, 
that in this land this right is not enjoyed. There are two and a half 
millions of slaves who are never allowed to speak in their own behalf, or 
toll the world freely the story of their wrongs. There are also half a 
uiillion of so called free people of color, who are permilled to speak with 



ADDRESS OF LEWIS C. OUNN. 63 

but little more liberty than the slaves. Nor is this all. Even those who 
stand up in behalf of the down-trodden colored man, however white their 
skins may be, are slandered, persecuted, mobbed, hunted from city to city, 
imprisoned, and, as in the case of the lamented Lovejoy, put to death ! It 
is unnecessary here to refer to Amos Dresser, who, for exercising the pri- 
vilege of a freeman, and acting in behalf of freedom, was publicly whipped 
in the streets of Nashville. I need not speak of another devoted friend of 
the oppressed, whose face I see in this assembly, who, some years ago, 
was immured in a Baltimore prison, and has since been led like a criminal 
to a jail in Boston, for no other crime than publishing what his conscience 
and his judgment told him was the truth. Nor need I crive a detailed 
account of the many mobs which have disgraced our country within the last 
three or four years — mobs collected together and infuriated, because some 
independent minds and warm hearts had undertaken to canvass the sublime 
merits of slavery and the dangers " of emancipation." You are all familiar 
with the scenes in Congress during its last sessions. You are all familiar 
with the tragedy at Alton. What, I ask, do these things prove ? Do they 
not clearly show that we do not enjoy the right of free discussion ? We 
may speak without reserve, it is true, on the subject of banks, and on many 
other political and moral questions; but when slavery is selected as the 
theme, when it is proposed to discuss the inalienability of human rights, 
then, forsooth, our lips must be locked and our thoughts imprisoned. Our 
right here is assailed, and it is a stab at the right to speak on any and every 
other subject. What do we mean by the right of free discussion ? Is it 
merely the privilege of "saying what the prevailing voice of the brotherhood 
will allow?" This definition, I know, has been recently given by a popular 
minister in the enlightened city of Boston ; — aye, and the fact shows how 
corrupt we have become as a people, how we have suffered one of our 
dearest rights to be almost wrested from us, and have bowed ourselves down 
before the haughty and tyrannical slaveholder. The right of free discussion 
is " the privilege to speak and write what the prevailing voice of the 
brotherhood will allow !" Indeed ! Then our boasted right is not a right 
but only a privilege — a privilege depending on the " voice of the brother- 
hood," who one day may will for us to speak, and the next for us to be 
dumb, — or this week may command our silence, and the next crowd in 
throngs to give a listening ear to our discussions. Dependino- on circum- 
stances, and yet a right? Why, it is a contradiction in terms. If it is 

depending on circumstances, then it does not inherently belong to us we 

have derived no right from our Creator. A privilege is a privilege, and not 
a right. Now freedom of speech we spurn as a privilege ; we demand it as 
our own, and we shall exercise it, too, in the face of all the mobs which 
may array themselves in threatening attitude before us. Our right to speak 
freely the dictates of our minds and consciences is derived from our Creator 
and we have no permission to surrender it ourselves, nor has any other- 
man the permission to wrest it from us. Thus you see that abridging our 
freedom of speech on the subject of slavery, is tantamount to sayino- that 
freedom of speech on all subjects is not our right, but that we must depend 
for it upon " the voice of the brotherhood ;" — that voice determining on 
what subjects we may speak, what kind of thoughts we may utter, and the 
language in which they must be clothed. Here, then, on the question of 
slavery the batde must be fought. At this part of the citadel the first attack 
has been made ; and here the true friends of the right must rally, and dis- 
perse the enemy, before they have forced a passage and taken the castle. 
For this reason alone it is, that so many, since Lovejoy's murder, have taken 
a decided stand in favor of the abolitionists, although opposed to them in 



64 StCONU DAY MOKMNt; :^i;.•^s;Io^. 

seiititiiciu on ilie subject of slavery. Tliey have seen the right of free dis- 
cussion assailed and trampled under foot ; and they have discernment enough 
to perceive that, although silence is now required only on one subject, the 
riy;ht, in all its length and breadth, is thereby completely destroyed. Next 
year the "voice of the brotherhood" may demand that all discussion on the 
banking system be suppressed. Indeed there is no question, political, 
scientific, or moral, that may not be proscribed by the enlightened " brother- 
hood." Those who now remonstrate with the public touching the sin and 
evils of intemperance, may soon be silenced. The cause of peace may 
lose its advocates. Ps'ay, subjects now regarded as of vital importance, may, 
upon a fluctualiiiii in the minds and feelings of " the brotherhood," be 
locked up in the tomb of thought until the day of the final resurrection. I 
repeat it, we must stand by the right where it is first assailed. And let 
those who now hesitate, or who take their stand in favor of checking free 
discussion on the suhjtct of alavcri/, keep before their minds the conse- 
quences thai may, and jjrobably will, ensue. 

Are such aware of the importance of this right ? Are they aware that it 
lies at the foundation of all our other rights, — that if it is surrendered, we 
ourselves are slaves, and may be ground beneath the most galling servitude 
which ever oppressed a human being ? Do they not see that if we have no 
right to speak, we can have none to act; that locking our lips is also fetter- 
ing our limbs and chaining our faces to the dust ? W'e have no freedom of 
speech or of the press ; how tiien can we maintain our dignity as men, and 
preserve our property from the grasp of the despot? Our rulers might ride 
rough-shod over our dearest interests, and convert our money to tiieir own 
uses, and there would be none to lift up the voice of warning or rebuke — 
none to mutter that all was not right; every tongue is still, every press is 
muzzled. This would be the millenial day of tyranny. Are you prepared 
for all these dreadful consequences — prepared to see the people vassals to a 
few? If so, 

" Go, l)U_v for llic cold corjwc of Freedom a sliroud, 

And burv voiir Iio|k-s in licr grave. 
TIk'II liuslml l>c llic j;lce ofvoiir lBl)orci"S pi-oud 
As, driven w iili tlie mule .ind the ass in llie crowd, 

Tlii-V slink lo llie task of a sla\e, 
W'llU a cui"sc on llicir lip and u scowl in llicir eve 
As tlicv mope b_v your tombstones and tauntingly crv, 

llo ! here go the sons of the brave." 

Freedom of speech, what is it? The freedom of the immortal mind, — 
the freedom of the heart ! How much more valuable to moral beings than 
mere freedom of the body, or security of property and life ! Take from me 
my money, my watch, or any thing else that I possess, but leave me the 
right to rebuke sin wherever it exists, and of obeying the commands of my 
heavenly Tather. 

Why should men prevent the exercise of this right ? It will merely de- 
velope the truth and place it in bolil relief before the eyes of all. And is 
there in this house, or in this city, or in this land, a man who fears the 
truth ? If so, you may depend upon it, lie is conscioim of error in his 
politics, morals, or religion. iSuch an one, and only such, has reason to 
be afraid. Free discussion elicits truth. Of this the people of Pennsyl- 
vania were fully aware, when, a year ago or more, they called a Convention 
for the purpose, not of changing the Constitution, but of deliberating upon 
and fully discussing certain proposed changes ; so that the true character 
and tendency of those changes might be seen by all, and the people could 
then understandingly vole either for their adoption or rejection. Of so 



ADDRESS OK LEWIS C. GUNN. 65 

much importance were these discussions considered, that the state has ex- 
pended the enormous sum of three hundred thousand dollars in sustaining 
that Convention ; and if they were of so much importance to tlie state 
as to justify such an expenditure, how wonderful it is, that some of the very 
members of that Convention should be in favor of gags, and of a censorship 
for the pulpit, the forum, and the i)ress. The Convention has been held, 
propositions have been discussed, and truth has been elicited, though not 
written down in some of the amendments, or rather deformities, which the 
Convention has determined to submit to the people. The people, in due 
time, will give their judgment. 

Free discussion elicits truth, and yet there are those who are opposed to 
it ! — in other words, there are those who are opposed to the truth, knowing 
it to be the truth ! If there be such an one in this house, let him come 
forward to this platform, that we all may may see the being, and that he 
may receive the condemnation he so richly deserves. 

Strange the fatuity of those who seek to cover up the truth, or oppose its 
progress ! Do they not know that a certain defeat awaits them ? It has 
prevailed over its enemies in days that are past, and it ever will and must 
prevail. How was it with the gospel? It is needless here to state how 
rapidly it spread through all the earth ; how it triumphed over obstacles the 
most formidable ; how prejudice and error, ambition and the love of gain, 
gratification of sense, with a legion of other evils, were all subdued, and 
darkness, Judaism, and heathenism vanished before the glorious light. How 
was it in the days of the Reformation? Were men more able then to cope 
with truth, or to arrest its progress ? Why were the efforts of priests and 
rulers unavailing to suppress the views of Galileo, and keep up the belief 
that the sun and planets, and all the starry host, turn round this little earth ? 
Because they fought against the truth. 

And we have witnessed triumphs in our own time, and in our own coun- 
try — triumphs in spile of persecution, and mighty efforts of mighty men to 
suppress the truth. Witness the Temperance cause ; at one time derided 
as fanaticism, now popular. Witness also the Peace cause ; still ridiculed, 
but nevertheless making glorious triumphs. Last of all, I would mention 
the Anti-slavery cause. But a few years ago — in 1832 — the largest Anti- 
slavery society that could be formed upon correct principles, in this country, 
consisted of only twelve men. These were without worldly wealth or 
worldly influence ; but they have shaken the atrocious system of Slavery 
to its very foundation. Although assailed with every kind of slander which 
human malice could devise, they have outridden the fury of the storm, and 
now see converts multiplied by thousands to their principles. The rich, 
the wise, the learned, as well as the good, flock to their standard, and glory 
in being identified with them. Their names, though at first cast out before 
men, will go down to posterity in grateful remembrance. The Anti-slavery 
cause is now beginning to be popular in some parts of the country ; and 
soon the difiiculty will be, not to gain members to the society, but to pre- 
vent the wrong sort of men from joining with us. Ambitious men and 
politicians, as they see us gaining over village after village, county after 
county, and state after state, will cast in their lot with us, hoping thereby to 
be promoted to some lucrative or honorable office. I repeat it, the Anti- 
slavery cause is destined to become a popular cause ; for it has truth and 
right to buoy it upward and impel it onward. 

What man living can disbelieve that, in the exercise of free discussion, 
error will be exposed and truth elicited ? — and what man living disbelieves 
that the truth is mighty and will prevail ? Not one ; and, for this reason, 
slaveholders and errorists of all kinds tremble, when they see independent 

9 



66 SKCOND DAY MOKM.NG SESSION. 

men examining their wicked systems. I now tell them, for their consolation, 
that there is in this country, a noble band of clear-headed, warm-hearted, 
fearless men. who appreciate the value of free discussion, and are deter- 
mined to exercise it. This Hall testifies of their character. Seeing the 
right assailed, ihey have thrown themselves into the breach, determined that 
no encroachments shall there be made. They have seen the right first as- 
sailed as regards the subject of slavery, and therefore to that point they 
have directed their attention. That subject above all others, they will hence- 
forth discuss ; and 

" \( lliLV liavc wliispeied truth, 

\\ liisper no longer, 
Diit s|>€ak its tlic ti-iii|K-st dolli, 

Sterner and stroeiger." 

From their purpose ihey are not to be driven. They have counted the 
cost, and are not to be affected by threats or by indulgences. They have 

" Pravcr-strc-ngtlienecl for tlic triiil come together, 
, Put on the harni'SS for the inonil figlit. 

And, with the hlessing of their heavenly Fatlier, 
Will gtiard the right." 

As this Hall has been dedicated to the right of free discussion, bear with 
me, for a moment, while I exercise this right, in freely remarking on the 
measures for the abolition of slavery alluded to by the learned gentleman 
who yesterday morning addressed the audience in this place. And I speak 
not my own sentiments only, but the sentiments of, I believe, every anti- 
slavery society in this country. We go for no gradual emancipation such 
as that gentleman described. We believe that slavery is a heinous sin, and 
that being sinful, it ought to be immediately repented of, and immediately 
abandoned. It is the duly of every slaveholder to do this now, and it will 
continue to be his duty until he has performed it. — Immediate abolition does 
not consist in merely beginning to act immediately, or in fixing a certain 
date at which slavery shall die ; it contemplates no delay of twenty or fifty 
years, as we were told, no, nor of a single day. As regards fearful conse- 
quences, none would ensue to the country, to the masters, or the slaves, from 
striking off every chain at this verv moment. We hold that no preparatory 
education is necessary before emancipation. In givinji man inalienable rights, 
the God who made him, gave him all tliat knowledge of his duty which was ne- 
cessary for the exercise of those rights. Laws, also, to ameliorate slavery we 
have no more fellowship with than with laws to ameliorate high-way robbery 
or murder. A complete and immediate termination of the outrage is, and 
nothing short of this could be, demanded by us. Break the chain, and re- 
move the yoke, and make those chattels men, and then educate them — that 
is the way to ameliorate iheir condition. First, •• cease to do evil, and 
[^then] learn to do well." This we will press upon the slaveholder until 
he yields ; and, in so doing, we feel called upon to oppose every thing 
which will have a tendency to soothe his conscience. No scheme of colo- 
nization, either to Africa, to Haiti, or to any distant place in our own coun- 
try, is called for, or expedient ; but, on the contrary, it would be absolutely 
injurious to the SkuiIi, in withdrawing her laborers — to the slaves, in re- 
moving them from the infiuence of civilized, enlightened, and pious men — and 
to the slaveholders, in leading them to believe " there is a lion in the way." 
We, therefore, oppose every such scheme, and every thing that recognises, even 
indirectly, either the danger or inexpediency of the full and immediate eman- 
cipation of every bondman. Not a tlay, not an hour longer would we see 
the image of God defaced, and hear the cries of the wronged. We would 



SPEECH OF C. C. BURLEIGH. 67 

see every man, from this time forward, walking forth, not as a slave, with 
fear and trembling, but erect as he was made, with his face heavenward, 
and liis countenance beaming forth the happiness of freedom, and remind- 
ing us of Him, in whose image, it is said, man was created. 

It would give me pleasure to dwell longer on this subject^ but health for- 
bids. My friends have advised me to be short, and I feel that their advice 
was prudent. 



Charles C. Burleigh was then introduced to the audience, whom he 
addressed for some time, in a very animated and eloquent manner, on the 
subject of ''Indian wrongs.'" It is a great matter of regret that steno- 
graphers were not secured to take down the remarks of those who spoke 
extempore. Of the speech on Indian wrongs but very imperfect notes were 
taken, and the speaker was unable, after the destruction of the Hall, to call 
to mind what he had said. The notice, however, which was taken of this 
performance by two newspapers of this city, both known not to be abolition 
papers, shows that it was worthy of the speaker, and worthy of the place ; 
moreover, that no occasion was given by it for the destruction of the Hall. 
'I'he Inquirer and Courier, a daily paper, in giving an account of the pro- 
ceedings, says, " Mr. C. C. Burleigh, also, developed the subject of Indian 
wrongs with great ability." The Saturday Evening Post, a weekly paper, 
says: " Various interesting communications were made on the succeeding 
days, among which we notice a poetical dedication by J. G. Whittier, and 
an eloquent and powerful address on the subject of Indian oppression, by 
C. C. Burleigh." 

From the scanty notes which were taken, a short sketcli of the topics 
dwelt on by the speaker, has been prepared. 

SPEECH OF C. C. BURLEIGH. 

He commenced by alluding to the propriety of discussing the wrongs of 
the Indians in that building. It was a Hall dedicated to the rights of man ; 
not only of the slave, but also of the red man, — of all that are oppressed. 

He said, that, if he were ever disposed to apologize to a public audience, 
he might on the present occasion plead want of strength ; but what strength 
he had, he would give to the red man — he was as ready to plead his cause 
as that of the slave. What claims, he said, has the Indian upon our sym- 
pathy !• He then spoke of the fewness of those who stand up in his behalf, 
while treaties are violated, and compulsory measures are used to drive him 
from his home and from the graves of his fathers. He prays the white 
man to delay the execution, as the tribes are fast wasting away, and soon 
they will die. Let us die where we have lived, say they, which will be 
ere long ; and then our possessions shall be yours, without incurring the 
guilt of wresting them away by fraud or violence.* 

After having held up to the view of the audience the injustice of our con- 
duct towards the Indians, and of the conduct of our fathers, through the 

* The celebrated liitlian orator, Red .Jacket, at his last visit to Philadelphia, made a very elo- 
quent address to the citizens, and alter having feelingly described the insatiable desire manit'ested 
by the White People to obtain the Indian's Lands, paused, and in the most touching manner said : 

" And now, Brethren, let rae kneel down, and beseech you to wait yet a little while longei-, 
and we shall all be dead .' — you can then iiave the Indians' lands for nothing — there will be 
nobody iiere to dispute it with you!" 



68 SECOND DAY MORMNCi SESSION. 

representatives of the nation, — tlie outrages which have been endured, and 
the wasting of tribe after tribe, until of the multitudes who once peopled 
our fnresls, or rather of their descendants, but a very small remnant now 
remains, he alluded to llie old men — the aged hendocks among whose limbs 
the winds of many winters had whistled — the chiefs of the tribes. They 
stretch out their hands to us in supplication for a delay of their removal. Shall 
those bauds, now trembling in dissolution, be stretched in vain ? Shall I 
ask you to listen only to the story of their wrongs, and not to act ? 

After a powerful appeal to the audience to do all they had it in their power 
to tlo, the orator continued : We may go on growing in strength, and pride, 
and oppression, until the last red man has ceased to tread our soil, and the 
last vestige of the aboroaines of this country has disappeared ; but a day of 
retril)uiion is coming. Let us remember the account that we will be obliged 
to render. Blood crieth. We now see the Indians weak, and feel that our- 
selves are strontr, — and therefore, disbelieve that any reverse may take 
place in our condition. We suppose it impossible that we shall be placed 
in their stead, and they become the executioners of Divine vengeance. But 
He who rcgardeth the oppressed has ways and means at his command 
wherewith to punish the op[)ressor. I am appealing, however, more to your 
fear and selfitiliness, than to your justice and humanity. Such appeals are un- 
worthy of those who are prepared to listen to appeals on better grounds. 
In the name of justice and humanity, then, lift up your voices against the 
cruel banishment which is now contemplated, and speak fearlessly and une- 
quivocally, so that our legislators will hear, and understand, and not dare to 
disobey. 

Gratitude alone should unite us as one man in behalf of this people. 
Where would our republics have been, if they had not been cherished by 
the Indians ? — if the red man had exhibited toward our nation in its infancy, 
the same exlcrminaliiig spirit which we now manifest toward him. 

While travelling, lately, in a loreiffn land, I often saw in its wild forests, 
trees of a pectdiar form, holding within the coils of their strangely twisted 
trunks, small fragments of decaying wood, 'i'hese, a near examination dis- 
covered to be the relics of some former forest-giant, around which a feeble 
vine had wound itself, and, clinging to it for support, had increased in mag- 
nitude, till, towering above the topmost bough of its supporter, it had itself 
become a tall, thick tree, standing on the spot where its predecessor had 
perished in its fatal embrace. As I looked, I could not repress the sad 
thought — this is but too faithful an emblem of our own proud republic, in 
her treatnient of the native tribes. 

Whole nations have been destroyed — none remaining even to be looked 
at as specimens of what they were. Where are the warriors who shouted, 
in their war-song, the fear-inspiring name of Sassacus ? — where they who 
rushed to the deadly strife, when the battle-cry of Metacom broke on the 
midnight silence of Montaup ? — where the brave followers of Miantonimo 
nnd Canonicus ? — where the wiley men of Tucas ? The Pequod fort went 
down in blood and ashes ; the people of Philip have been scattered and de- 
stroyed ; the name of the iNarraganset lives but in the appellation of that 
lovely bay, whose waters his canoe once plouelied ; the "/w.?/ of the Mohe- 
gans" has long been familiarly known as the title of a popidar novel ; and 
even the kindness of Pocahontas could not avert the ruin of her tribe. 

He then alluded to our disregard of treaties with the Indians, and after 

showing how our plijjhted faith hail been broken, he asked : What can we 

expect from other nations, save the same fraud which we ourselves have 

practised — the same injustice which we have measured out to them ? 

The speaker then stated that he had in his hand a letter from John Ross, 



SPEECH OF C. C. BURLEIGH. 69 

principal chief of the Cherokee nation, which he would hand to the Secretary 
to be read. 

The letter was then read as follows : 

Washington, May 3d, 1838. 
Gentlemen : I owe you an explanation for having so long delayed to answer your kind letter of 
the 1 9th of last month. Believe me, your invitation touched nie deeply ; it is another evidence 
of the sympathy of the descendants of William Penn, with the wronged red man, of which Penn- 
sylvania lias so often, and especially of late, aftbrded us testimonials, that we should he ungrateful, 
indeed, if we could ever forget. I omitted to reply to it, only because I was waiting to ascertain 
whether there might not he a hope that our aftaii-s would be in such a position at the time yoa 
mention, as to render it possible for me to visit Philadelphia on the day indicated. But, 1 lament 
to sav, that nearly every probability of an event so desirable, is now extinct. The twenty-third 
of May is the fatal da}' decreed for the removal of our peo[)le by the armed power of the United 
States. As this will come within a week of the day you appoint, I need not add that, even were 
it not my dutj' to remain here, eagerly watching for every chance of averting or mitigating the 
storm, not knowing wliat a moment may bring forth ; even were not this my duty, I could scarcely, 
perhaps, feel myself in a state of mind to go before the public with a siory of sorrows so often 
told, and from which I should be more conscious then, than at any previous time, that possibility 
of rescue was gone forever. If, however, I can tind time to make you a written communication, 
1 will carry in it an explanation, somewhat fuller, and which may better satisfy your assembly. 1 do 
not know that any of our delegation may have it in their power to charge themselves with my letter, 
but if it can be so arranged, I shall consider that mark of respect the least return you can receive 
for your good will towards the Cherokees, from, 

Gentlemen, your most obliged, 

and faitlilul liumble servant, 

John Ross. 
To Messrs. Samuel Webb and Jos. M. Truman — Committee. 

C. C. Burleigh again rose and urged, as another consideration which should 
enlist us in the red man's behalf, the gratitude, as evinced in the letter just 
read, with which he requites even the slightest exhibition of kindness toward 
him, however far short it falls of the payment of his just dues. 

He concluded by exhorting the audience — not to merit the character of de- 
liverers of the Cherokee from banishment, for that he feared they could not 
do ; the fierce spirit of avarice and dominion had been suffered to reign too 
long and go too far for that — but to do ail they could toivards meriting that 
character; so that when the last Indian shall have been driven to the 
very shore of the Pacific, and the wave shall have washed out the trace of 
his last footstep, you may be able to say, my hand did it not — my heart had 
no sympathy with the cruel work — my voice was lifted in remonstrance 
against it. 



Here it was intended by the Managers of the Hall, that tlie exercises for 
the morning should have closed ; but Alvan Stewart, of Utica, rose, and 
requested leave to say a few words about the Seminoles. He then pro- 
ceeded to describe the character of that tribe — their number — the number 
slain in the late war — the mean and cruel means adopted to overcome them ; 
and also, entered into some details with regard to the origin of the war. He 
traced it all to slavery — the desire which the slaveholders feel that the poor 
slaves may have no city of refuge — no friends near them to whom they 
may escape from their masters. He told of a large number of runaway 
slaves that were harbored by the Seminoles and other Indians. 

William Lloyd Garrison, who was sitting in the back part of the 
gallery as a spectator, was then loudly called for from all parts of the 
house. Finding the audience would not be satisfied, he stepped to the 
front part of the gallery, and, in a modest and respectful manner, requested 
to be excused from speaking on account of the state of his health. To this 
reasonable request the audience did not consent. 



70 SFtOND DAY MUltMNO SESSION. 



R E M A 11 K S () V W. L. A U R I S N. 

I have, tlien, Mr. Chairman, but a very few words to offer. Happily, 
there are many individuals present, comparatively new voliinleers in our 
sacred cause, who are far belter qualified to address this meeting than myself. 
It is a homely adaije, that a new broom sweeps clean. Having been so 
long in use, 1 am little better than an old scrub. Bring your new brooms 
on the platform, and the work will be much better done. 

Sir, 1 have observed with regret, since the opening of this Hall, that not a 
single colored brother has occupied a seat upon your platform. Wliy is 
this ? It cannot he because there is no one present, who, on the score of 
intellectual and moral worth, is entitled to such respectful treatment. Is it, 
then, the result ot accident or design ? I fear this exclusion may be traced 
to a wicked prejudice, or to a fear of giving public offence. It ill becomes 
us to rebuke others for cherishing the hateful spirit of caste, if we are dis- 
posed to give it any quarter. 

Another remark I may be permitted to make. It has appeared to me, as 
well -IS to others, that there is a squeamishness with regard to coming 
out boldly in favor of the doctrine of iminediute emancipation, and letting 
the public understand, distinctly, the object of our assembling together. 
The advertisements of the meetings which I have seen in the newspapers, 
are very indefinite on this point. As the name of Orange Scott has been 
announced in the papers, and from this platform, as one of the speakers for 
this evening, and as the subject of his address has not been announced, and 
as I think it no more than right that we should know what it is, I take the 
liberty of imiuiring, whether it relates to agriculture, to astronomy, to 
temperance, or to slavery ? 

[Oranc;e Scott hereupon rose, and said, " he did not know, in view of 
all the circumstances of the case, that he should speak at all that evening ; 
the probability was, that he should not. lUit if he did, it should be upon 
^iniericdii Slavery — its sinfulness and pernicious tendency. He thought 
this was known to the Managers, and he wondered that the subject had not 
been annotmced. " 

A female here rose, (a member of die society of Friends,) under one of 
the galleries, and stated that it was " the request of the ladies, that William 
Lloyd Garrison should come on the platform, and there deliver what he 
might have to say, as many felt anxious to see the man for whose head the 
South had olTered thousands of dollars. " With this request he complied, 
amid the loud applause of the audience, and spoke as follows :] 

Mr. C'lriirman, it is certainly true, that I am an otjrct of public curiosity, 
scarcely rivalled by any show extant — an object full of apprehension to 
many, and of iiKjuisitiveness to more. Indeed, some of my anti-slavery 
friends have gruvthj suggested the " expediency " of puitine me into a 
strong cage — " with my own «-onsent, " of course, and carrying me about 
the country as a rare monster, to be seen at certain hours, at so much a 
sight for adults — children half price ; the proceeds, after deducting tlie 
expense of keepers, and of furnishing fooil and straw for me, to be thrown 
into the treasury of the American Anti-Slavery Society I [Much laughter.] 
1 desire, sir, to be as serviceable to the cause in which we are engaged as 
possible ; l)Ut there are two or three good reasons, why I cannot accept of 
the novel and productive proposition of my friends. The first is, that, .is 
an abolitionist, I can have nothing to do with modern "expediency. " The 



REMARKS 01" W. L. GARRISON. 71 

second is, that my grand design is to deliver the millions who are now 
encaged in our land, and I am not willing, therefore, to get into a cage 
myself. My last reason is, that as I am in favor of immediate, uncondi- 
tional, and universal emancipation, it is not to be supposed that I am 
willing to be made an exception, and to lose my own liberty. But, to be 
serious. 

[The speaker then referred to the affecting and eloquent detail of Indian 
wrongs to which the audience had just listened, from the lips of C. C. 
Burleigh, and asked :] 

Why are the Cherokees to be banished from their homes ? Our brother 
has omitted the why and wherefore. Alas, sir, his thrilling appeals in 
their behalf come too late — not too late, however, to soften our hearts, 
to mantle our cheeks with the blushes of shame as Americans, or to 
tire our souls with holy indignation as Christians and philanthropists — but 
too late to save them from banishment, perhaps from utter extermination. 
The demon of slavery is the author of this forceful expulsion, because he 
demands their lands upon which to erect new shambles for the sale of human 
flesh and immortal souls, and to ply the lash upon the back of unrequited 
toil, and to extend his bloody dominions. There can be no protection given 
to the Indians, until slavery is abolished ; and its abolition can alone pre- 
serve them, even as a remnant. To the work, then, before us, with new 
zeal and spirit ! 

This hall, Mr. Chairman, needs a new dedication. The eloquent 
gentleman who yesterday stood as the priest at the altar, and performed 
solemn dedicatory services, exhibited the goddess of Liberty in all her 
beauty and attraction; but just as every eye was kindling with a radiant 
flame, and every heart was leaping exultingly, and every knee bent in homage, 
he then — amazing infatuation ! — seized the dagger of expediency, and 
plunged it to her heart! For one, I wondered and shuddered at the unna- 
tural deed. The orator considered it blasphemy to say that slavery was 
right, and in accordance with the scriptures ; and yet in the very next 
breath, he talked about legislating for its future overthrow, and declared 
that he was opposed to its immediate abolition! Sir, if there be a neck to 
that discourse, I would say, let a stone be tied around it, and let it be sunk 
in the depths of the sea. 

It gives me pain, sir, to make these remarks ; the speech was, at least 
the greater part of it, an admirable speech. It handled the subject in a 
masterly and eloquent manner. But the latter part of it neutralized all the 
good that had been said; it contained poison enough to kill all the colored 
men on earth. All that the slave-holders require to enable them to hold 
their slaves in interminable bondage, was to be found in that speech, P'or 
what more do they want, than an admission that immediate and uncondi- 
tional emancipation is not due to every one of their slaves, and that the 
withholding of liberty from them, for a moment, is not robbery ? Sir, that 
gentleman talked of freeing the children as they arrived at a certain age, and 
leaving the parents in slavery — at least, until they can be educated and 
prepared for freedom ! Is this the dictate of humanity or religion ? No, 
sir. It deserves our unmingled abhorrence, as unnatural and monstrous. 
Sir, this hall must surely be rebaptized. Let us, during the meetings of 
this week, wash out this stain of reproach. 

I know, indeed, that some will consider the remarks of that gentleman as 
adapted to please all parties — to allay, in some measure, the prejudice that pre- 
vails against us and our holy cause. These are your men of 'caution' and 'pru- 
dence,' and ' judiciousness.' Sir, I have learned to hate those words. When- 
ever we attempt to imitate our great Exemplar, and press the truth of God, in 



72 SECOND 1>AY MORMNO SESSION. 

all its plainness, upuii the conscience, why, we are very imprudent ; because, 
forsooih, a great excitement will ensue. Sir, slavery will not be overthrown 
without excitement, a most tremendous excitement. And let me sav, there 
is too much quietude in this city. It shows that the upholders of this wicked 
system have not yet felt that their favorite sin has been much endanjjered. 
You need, and must have, a moral earthquake, to startle, if it were possible, 
even the dead who are slumbering in their graves. This sluggish state of 
the public mind betokens no moral reformation. The more stagnant the 
waters, the mightier must be the liurricane to give salubrity to the atino- 
sphere, and health to the people. Yotir cause will not prosper here — the 
philosophy of reform forbids you to expect it — until it excites popular 
tumult, and brings down upon it a shower of brickbats and rotten eggs, and 
is threatened with a coat of tar and feathers. How was it in New-England, 
as the truth began to atfect the consciences of the people ? Why, sir, that 
whole section of country was rocked to its very centre, and violence was 
every where awakened towards the active friends of the helpless and 
bleeding slave. Then, sir, our cause began to make swift progress, like 
that Christianity of which it is a part, in apostolic and martyr ti(nes. So it 
must be with you here, as a matter of dire and unavoidable necessity; 
because it is not to be supposed lliat the Jacobinical spirit of slavery, and the 
atrocious spirit of prejudice, are less prevalent here than they were in distant 
iS'ew-EnglaruI. 

One more remark I would make. Tiiere is too much colonizationism here. 
I see handbills posted about the city, advertising that there will be a debate in 
this place, next week, on the sul>ject of colonization. Can it be possible 
that any man at this day will have the audacity to come forward, publnly, as 
an advocate for that wicked scheme ? [" I am that man, " exclaimed 
Doctor Sleigh, who was one of the audience.] Then 1 blush for that 
man ! I blush for him as a man, a Christian ! [" He is not an .\merican, " 
exclaimed a colored man.] — It looks well, indeed, for a foreign adventurer 
to come here, and join a band of hauuhty and tyrannical conspirators, in 
banishing one-sixth part of our own fellow citizens to an uncivilized and 
pestilential coast. Sir, let every advocate of the colonization society, who 
maintains the propriety or duty of transporting our colored countrymen to 
Africa, on account of their complexion, be regarded as an enemy to his 
ppecies and a libeller of God. " 



W. W. Sleigh then rose, and asked permission to make a few remarks, 
which was granted, and he was invited upon the platform. In reply to a 
note requesting from him a copy of his remarks for publication, the fol- 
lowing communication was received. Although, in chronological order, it 
does not all belong here, we still pulilish it in this place, entire, r.s this is 
the particular wish of the author. 

285 Race Street, May 3lst, 1838. 
To Samuel Webb, E»q. 

Sir — In compliance with your request, I herewith send you a statement 
of all I said in your late Hill, and what gave rise to the same. 

Believe me yours very sincerely, 

W. W. Sleigh. 

Having, nut of curiosity, visited the late " Pennsylvania Hall," on Tues- 
day, May 15lh, 18.38, and having heard one of the speakers, whom I was 
informed was .Mr. William Lloyd Garrison, observe that " he won<lered any 



REMARKS OF \V. W, SLKIGH. 73 

man at the present day would have the audaci-ty to come forward and advo- 
cate colonization, and particularly a " foreign adventurer T' I immediately, 
audibly, and emphatically, said, " I am that man." Mr. Garrison then 
continued, " I blush for that man — thai foreigner — who dares come to 
America to send Americans from their homes," &c. &c. When this gen- 
tleman had terminated his speech, I requested to be heard in my own vindi- 
cation, upon which I was invited to take my stand on the platform, when I 
spoke to the following et^ect : 

Ladies and Gentlemen — I woidd be the last man to interrupt the proceed- 
ings of any assembly, and particularly so large a one as this, met for the 
purpose of advocating the principles of liberty, and the cause of the colored 
man ; but having been personally alluded to by the speaker who has just sat 
down, and by him denounced as a foreign adventurer come to America to 
turn Americans out of their own land, I felt it my duty to solicit the privi- 
lege which you have now courteously granted me, of saying a few words 
vindicatory of myself. — Ladies and Gentlemen, I am not an enemy to liber- 
ty — I am not an enemy to the colored man; I am an advocate of the one, 
and the friend of the other: — and it little became the speaker to cast in my 
face that I was a '■'foreign adventurer,'''' and, much less, so to misrepresent 
my actions as to say I wanted to turn or transport Americans from their 
own land ! When he visited England, his having been a foreigner was not 
thrown in his face. True, I am from England, where 



" SIrvcs cannot breathe ! 

1!' tlieir lungs iiiliale our air, that moment they are free; 
Tliey touch our country and their shackles fall !"♦ 

But what could I expect from one who did not spare his own countryman — 
the tried and unremunerated friend of the black, David Paul Brown, Esq.; 
but heaped upon that talented gentleman unlimited abuse ! — or from a man 
mIio has just told you, "he hates caution, prudence, and judiciousness !" 
I thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, for your kindness in hearing me. 

The next day I addressed the following letter to the chairman of the 
meeting in the Hall, the contents of which will sufliciently explain the rea- 
sons which led to my so doing. 

285 Race Street, May 15th, 1838. 

'I'o the Chairman of the Meeting in " Pennsylvania Hall." 

Sir — Having been yesterday (through your courtesy) on the platform, 
when a notice was read, offering your Hall for discussion this day on tlie 
subject of colonization, and as such was evidently directed to me, I feel it 
my duty, most respectfully, to enter my protest (as an advocate for coloni- 
zation) against any of its friends sanctioning, by their voice, any such hasty, 
cursory, partial, and indefinite investigation as this proposes to be, on a 
subject of such importance. Moreover, I am convinced that it is only by 
such inadequate measures, that abolitionism can be, for a moment, sustained : 
and were I to consent, thus abruptly, to enter upon its discussion, with- 
out order — without regulations — without system — without admitted evi- 
dence, and without knowing whom I would have the honor of debating 
with, I would be acting in that very way which I consider has hitherto 
tended much to the delusion of the public. The misrepresentation of colo- 
nization, and the promotion of erroneous and destructive views on the ques- 
tion of slavery — besides the absence of my friend, Mr. Elliott Cresson, who 
has kindly off'ered to furnish me with such documentary evidence as is in- 

* He aUo said something about having •' ex//ff/ " himself from England, his native country, 
and coming to America. The precise language used, we do not remember. 

10 



74 SKCOND DAY — MORMXO SESSION. 

(lispmsably necessary for a full, free, just, and impartial discussion of so 
momentous a subject, renders it impossible for me. with justice to the cause, 
to enter upon it, till his return, which will not be till the end of this week. 
But on Mond-iy evening next, (CJod willintr) I will be fully prepared to meet 
not only the greu and old champion of abolitionism, Arnold Ihtjfum, but 
as many more chamjiions thereof as think proper to enter the lists, when I 
pledire myself to prove that abolitionism in dealruclive to the real interests 
of the slave — to the welfare and existence of the Cnion — and contrary lo 
the express cotnntands of God. 

Finally, I be^ it may be distinctly understood, tliat I am not the paid 
as;ent of the Colonization, or of any other society, and that I will as cheerfully 
advocate the cause of al)olitionism, as I now do that of colonization, when 
once my error be made manifest. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 

Your very obedient servant, 

W. W. Sleigh. 

In the evening of the ne.\t day (Wednesday) while I was at church, one 
of my sons came running to me, stating that several gentlemen had re- 
quested him to come ofT and inform me that Mr. Garrison was abusing me 
before a crowded assembly in Pennsylvania Hall — upon which I imme- 
diately went there, (about half past 8 o'clock, P. M.,) and entering the build- 
ing by one of the side doors, I met several of my friends, Dr. Anderson, 
Dr. Gebhart, .Mr. Mann, and some others, saying that Garrison had been 
disgracefully abusing me and Mr. Elliott Cresson, and said as much as if 
we had both run off from England — " left your country for your country's 
good," <tc. <tc, — upon which I instantly, once, and only once, audibly de- 
manded a hearing. The noise in the Hall, produced by some stones thrown 
at that moment against the windows, prevented my hearing whether any re- 
ply was, or was not, made to my request:* and being unable to get access up 
lo the platform to request privately from the chairman, the privilege of de- 
fending Miyself, I left the building. — Lastly, as I have been informeii that some 
persons have circulated a report that I addressed the mob, outside the /fall, on 
that evrninu — I assure you that I did not utter one word outside the build- 
ing, but walked liome with the gentlemen just alluded to. Moreover, so 
far from my entertaining any unfriendly or unfavorable opinion of the great 
body of abolitionists at large, (as my pamphlet on the subject " .Vbolition- 
isM ExposKD," this day published, fully shows,) I consider them (however 
much I ditTer from them in opinion) a worthy, but deceived body. 

W. W. Sleioh. 



REJOINDER OF \N' . L . GARRISON. 

William Li.ovd Garrison again rose, and said : 

I would be the last man in tlie world to reproach another with being a 
foreigner — I consider this as no ground for unkind treatment, or for remarks 
which mijjht wound the feelings. Nor would I, on the present occasion, 
have alluded to the fact of that gentleman being a foreigner, if he himself 
had not volunteered his services as an advocate for an expatriating scheme. 
It (lid seem to me peculiarly improper, and indisputably outrageous, that an 
individual should come here from a foreign land, lo enjoy rights and privi- 

* The IV<-»iiI<>nt of fho meeting did not hf«r Dr. Sleigh make llwt, or nny olhrr reqiiett, nor 
did he know Dr Sleigh «a» in iho Hall that evening. 



REJOINDER OF W. L. GARRISON. 75 

leges which belong to no other people on the face of the globe, and advocate 
the exiling of native born Americans ! It was in this light I spoke of him as a 
foreigner, — and now cry shame upon liim. As regards my hatred of "caution," 
"prudence, "-and "judiciousness," I must say, that either the gentleman can- 
not understand irony, or that I am very unfortunate in the use of it. I have a 
high regard ior gospel caution, gospel prudence, and gospel judiciousness ; 
for they consist in telling the truth, plainly and fearlessly, " whether 
men will hear, or whether they will forbear;" but so the words are not un- 
derstood by a time-serving and man-pleasing generation. It is colonization 
caution, colonization prudence, and colonization judiciousness which I 
hate — that time-serving caution and prudence so common in the coloni- 
zation ranks, is what my soul loathes. 



The discussion was continued by Charles C Burleigh, who dwelt on 
the inconsistency between the sentiments of the former and latter parts of 
David Paul Brown's oration, and endeavored to prove that the tendency of 
tlie latter was dangerous to the cause of human rights — that it was a sur- 
render of fundamental principles. He was followed by Alvan Stewart, 
who, in a clear and eloquent manner, showed the character and tendency of 
the colonization scheme. But as notes were not taken, we are unable to 
furnish a report of what was said by either of the speakers. 

Samuel Webb then rose and stated that, " as there appeared to be a 
diversity of opinion in regard to the best mode of abolishing slavery, he 
was authorized by the Managers of the Hall (who had just conferred 
together) to say, that there would be a discussion in that place on the en- 
suing morning, when all who chose to participate might have an opportunity 
of explaining their views, whether in favor or 2Lgd\\\si immediate or gradual 
abolition, colonization, or even slavery itself P'' 

This annunciation was received wiih great approbation by the audience. 
The meeting then adjourned, till afternoon, when the Lyceum again occu- 
pied the Hall with essays and discussions on scientific subjects, which they 
prefer not to have published. (See Afternoon Session of the first day.) 



fECOXD DAY EVENING SKSSIOX. 



SECOND DAY— EVENING SESSION. 

At the hour for iiieelin<r the saU)on was crowded. The speakers for the 
evening were George Ford, jr., of Lancaster, Pa., Alvan Stewart, of 
Utica, N. Y., and Alanson St. Clair, of Massachusetts. The first speaker 
was unable to write out his renaarks in full, and has, therefore, sent us the 
following sketch: 

Lancaster, June 30tli, 1838. 

The subject of my discourse before the " President, Directors, and Stock- 
holders of the Pennsylvania Hall Association," was the right of free 
discussion, the freedom of opinion, and the necessity of a strict observance, 
on the part of the people, of " the Supremacy of the Laws." In contending 
for the free exercise of the right of opinion on the part of every man, I 
maintained, that its freedom lays not in the mere simple enjoyment of the 
right of thinking; because that right, I stated, could be and was enjoyed 
under the Inquisition of Spain ; but its exercise consisted in its free and 
unrestrained expression, cither by word of mouth, or through the medium of 
the press. In support of this position I quoted the Constitution of this 
stale, which declares, in express terms, that " the free communication of 
thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man ; and every 
citizen may freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible 
for the abuse of that liberty. " Nor did 1 rest here; the Cousiiiuiion of the 
United Slates, it was next shown, having the same just regard for the rights 
of the people, very wisely provides, that " Congress shall make no law 
respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of 
the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a redress 
of grievances. " And I illustrated my positions, by showing, also, that it 
wiis for the maintenance of ihese principles, and for the securing of these 
rights, that our fathers fought and bled ; that it was for the free exercise of 
their opinions, that they separated themselves from the mother country, and 
underwent the toils and hardships of many a rigorous campaign; that they 
did all tliese things and even more to purchase that liberty which we now 
enjoy, and which they gave to us as a rich legacy, but which I feared, if the 
reiirn of mob law is to commence and predominate as the rule of action 
among our citizens, we shall not in turn transmit to those who shall come 
after us, pure anil unrorrupltd. 

In enlarging upon the latter division of my discourse, (namely, the necessity 
of an observance, on the part of the jieople, of the majesty or " supremacy of 
the Laws,") I took occasion to advert lo those gross violalions of the con- 
stitutional rights of their fellow citizens, on the part of the Boston mob, in 
the destruclion of the convent at Charlesiown, Massachusetts ; the outrages 
committed by the mobs at Baltimore, and which had gained for that city 
the unenviable appellation of " Mob Town ; " the injuries it)flicled upon 
private and unolTending individuals in the cities of Washington and Charles- 
ton ; and the high-hatided usurpation of power on the part of " respectable 
planters^' and *' exemplitry fi/irf»s," at Vicksburg, in 1835, in executing 
such worthless vagabonds as those five gamblers were represented to be, 
who were basely murdered, without the constitutional right of trial by jury, 
and of being hearil in their own defence ; from these and many other 
instances, I proceeded to show that a resort to brute force had become so 



SPEECH OF GEORGE FORD, JR. 77 

common of late, as to be the ordinary remedy, and the ready resort, even of 
men who could no longer combat opinions, even lliough erroneous, with 
counter-opinions, though correct. Here the case of the Rev. Elijah P. 
Lovejoy, in the state of Illinois, was instanced, and, in my comments upon 
this particular portion of my subject, I traced these popular oulbreakings 
back, as I supposed, to their source, fur tlie last ten or twelve years, and 
then proceeded to show, that, unless an example was set by virtuous men 
and good citizens, to yield a hearty obedience to the laws, it would be in 
vain for us to look forward to the day when they should be supreme, and 
the rights of every man be secure. 'I'he abduction of Captain William Mor- 
gan, in western New York, in the year 1826, was next adduced as one among, 
if not the very first instance of, those unwarrantable usurpations of power on 
the part of the party injured, or pretending to be so, of the right to redress 
his own wrongs and execute his own illegal sentences. For it was a recog- 
nition on the part of " respectable men'''' of a " power which is above the 
laws" — but which I will never admit — whose limits are undefined, and 
which cannot be ascertained by any tribunal known to the institutions of 
our country. From this latter case I drew my deductions ; and then went 
on to prove that one of the principal results of this intolerant spirit against 
the freedom of thought, of action, of the press, and the unrestrained exercise 
of the powers of speech, which has been manifested so strongly from 
time to time, by mobs and others, — served more efiectually than aught else, 
to attach importance to, and build up, the very cause or doctrine which it 
sought to repress. Such, I observed, had been the case with Christianity 
under the persecutions of the Emperors of Rome, with the Reformation at a 
subsequent period ; and, in a political point of view, similar results had at- 
tended the propagation of the principles of anti-masonry in Pennsylvania. 
Persecution, therefore, I continued, might serve as a stimulant to build up 
rather than allay or counteract the exertions now making by some men in 
the propagation of anti-slavery principles. 

Under view of all these circumstances, then, I continued, it became the 
bounden duty of all men, to support each other in the exercise of their natu- 
ral and constitutional rights ; for if a violation of them is sanctioned one day 
in one man, it may become the fortune of the individual inflicting the injury, 
to become himself the victim upon whom the vengeance of the mob may be 
wreaked to-morrow. " Error of opinion " said I, in the language of Jefier- 
son, " may be safely tolerated, vvhen reason is left free to combat it ;" and so it 
should be with abolitionists, so long as they are peaceable in their deport- 
ment and are guilty of no violation of the laws of the land. " For he that 
will not reason is a bigot, he that cannot reason is a fool, and he that dares 
not reason is a slave." 

My peroration, as near as I can recollect, was to this effect : That in the 
maintenance of their constitutional rights, I trusted the freemen of Pennsyl- 
vania would ever be united, and remain true to themselves, their God, and their 
country — that they would never " basely bow the knee" to any set of men 
who would not take them by the hand, and recognise them as their peers 
and equals ; for, as I stated, they were, in the language of the poet, 

" Men who their Juties know, 

But kuow their riglits, and knowing, dare maintain :" — 

and therefore, fondly trusted, that the voice which proclaimed this sentiment 
to the world would be heard throughout the whole extent of our country, 
and be re-echoed back by every hill and dale, so that here at least, in the 
free land of Penn, hearts might be found, which, beating high with a holy 



78 SECOND DAY KVE.MNG SESSION. 

and ardent love of country, would proudly vindicate and maintain their own 
rights, even when others would be found ready with craven spirits, tamely 
to surrender them up to the arronjant demands of those who are strangers 
alike to our wants, our feelings, and our country. 

Very respectfully, yours, 6cc. 

George Ford, Jr. 



SPEECH OF ALVAN STEWART, OF UTICA, N. Y. 

(on a RESOLITION RELATIVE TO THE RIGHT OK PETITION.) 

Tlie House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, a 
body created by the breath of the nostrils of the freemen of tliis nation, by 
a palpable violation of the Constitution, has denied the right of petition ; 
and if there is merit in having been the first body of men clothed with high 
legislative power who in this world have exercised it by refusing to hear 
the petitions of their constituents, tlien the House of Hepresentatives stands 
alone in its glory, pre-eminent, without rival — treadi)ig a path which Egyp- 
tian Pharaoh, and Hussian Nicholas, and the turbaned Sultan, have never 
ventured upon. Wliat was the prayer of these denied petitioners ? They 
asked the abolition of slavery — Amkkran, ItErruLiCAN slavery I 

"Hear, O Heavens! and be astonished, O Earth!" — the representative of 
yesterday denies the right of his constituent of to-day to ask him to give 
liberty to the bondmen, denies tlie constituent the right of having his petition 
so much as read in the presence of their high mightinesses! Tiie future 
historian of this land, when truth shall have triumphed over delusion, when 
the sober dictates of humanity shall have conquered the dark spirit of slave- 
holding fanaticism, when quadri-ennial President-making shall not be a 
draft on tlie heart's blood of our expiring liberties, — astonishment shall make 
him drop his pen to weep over the degeneracy of his boasting ancestors, 
till the love of his country's fame shall make him doubt these dreadful 
scenes in the narrative of the 20th and 21st of December, 1837. He will 
visit the city bearing the name honored by the father of his country, and 
turning over volume after volume of ancient Congressional records, shall 
sigh in the search of the liberty-murdering Congress of December, 1837; 
till at last he finds on that ill-fated 21 si of December, 1837, that Air. Palton 
of Virginia asked the previous question to be put for the adoption of a 
resolution by which " all petitions on the subject of slavery to that House 
should lie upon its table unread, unprinted, vnrcfcrnd, undebated, and 
unconsidered ;'' — and that it passed one hundred and twenty for, and 
seventy-four against it. " Ah!" says the future 'I'acitus of this land, as h.e 
Tnuscs over these dark and man-dishonoring pages, — " What is here? The 
'previous question,' — the tyrant's gag! — the petitions on slavery * unread, 
unprinted, tmrrferred, undchaled, and unconsidered.' Oh! what a rent 
hath slavery made in the Constitution's robe ! On the shortest day of the 
year — of least light — of most darkness — the deed has been done by slave- 
holders and their wretched apologists. Oh, the 21st of December, 1837! 
why must that day rob my country of its glory, its good name — and steep 
it in infamy? Let the 21st of December, 1837, |H'rish from my country's 
calendar. Lot that day be darkness, for ever after. Let not fiod regard it 
from above, neither let the light shine upon it. I>pt darkness and the 
shadow of death stain it; — let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of 
the day terrify it ; lot it not be joinetl unto the days of the year ; let it not 



SPEECH OF ALVAX STEWART. 79 

come into the number of the montlis. Let the night be solitary, and no 
joyful voice come therein. Let them curse it, that curse the day, who are 
ready to raise up their mourning. Let the stars of the twilight thereof be 
dark. Let it look for light, but have none ; neillier let it see the dawning 
of the day." 

But as he turns with mournful steps from this painful soliloquy, he goes 
to a room thirty by twenty, and twelve feet high, and beholds the migiity 
mausoleum of the embalmed remains of the Great Unread, the Great Un- 
printed, the Great Unreferred, the Great Unconsidered, — the dead corpse of 
a nation's right of petition, laid out in solemn state in the wing of the 
Capitol ! There is a Library of two millions of authors on one subject, — 
the unread Library of a nation's humanity ! Behold the manuscripts, 
three times the number of the Alexandrian Library. There lies the col- 
lected majesty of entombed Philanthropy. Yes, to this pile of recorded 
glory, those who wish in coming generations to rank high for the nobility 
of their descent, will send the faithful examiner to see if their ancestor did 
not sign these unread petitions to Congress, on their father's or mother's, 
grandfather's or grandmother's, or greatgrandfather's or great grandmother's 
side. And if they did, the man who searches for ancestral merit by 
which to raise his own, will believe it a ha[)py day for him when he shall 
find the name of the progenitors of his race written on these unread and 
unprinted petitions to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the 34lh, 
35th, 36ih, 37th, and 38th years of the nineteenth century. 

The right of petition is as old as human want. It is the language of the 
child to the parent. His every want, his every necessity, appeals to the 
parent by way of petition. His every gratified desire is but the fruit of 
some granted petition. The pupil in the school, the scholar in the univer- 
sity, comes to his superior every day with petitions. The schoolmaster, 
the trustees of a school, or the inspectors of schools, or the commissioners 
of schools, — the commissioners of highways, and the path-master, have 
their petitioners. The overseers of the poor, the keepers of the county poor- 
house, have their petitioners. The commissioners of excise, who grant 
rum-diplomas, — the supervisor, town-clerk, and justices are petitioned. 
Town meetings are petitioned. The board of supervisors sit weeks in 
their counties listening to and deciding petitions. The justice courts, the 
common pleas, the supreme courts, and chancery, are thronged with peti- 
tioners. The governors of states, and the president of the United States, 
overwhelmed, as they are, with petitions, have they ever dared, as well as 
the subordinate bodies referred to, to lay petitions presented to them on 
their tables, unread and unconsidered ? No. Legislatures in twenty-six 
states, sitting, on an average, three months in the year, or about one-fourth 
of the time — the immediate representatives of the people sit for the express 
purpose of deciding upon the petitions presented to them by the people. 
Who ever heard of a Legislature in one of those states, except New York, 
in 1837, ever refusing to read, print, or consider, the petitions of the 
people ? 

Congress sits to hear the various petitions of this nation, except those 
aflTecting human liberty, more than one-third of the year. The whole form 
of our government, family, school, town, county, state, nation, — whether 
in the Legislative, Judicial, or Executive, at every step and angle of pro- 
ceeding in human affairs, whether in church or state, whether in prosperity 
or adversity, sickness or health, moves forward on the wheels of petitions. 
Petitioning or requesting, whether written or verbal, is one side of affairs, 
while the other is to consider and weigh the application on its merits, and 
grant or refuse the petition asked. 



80 SECOND DAY KVEMXO SESSION. 

No, the whole system of Divinity, the worsliip of God, whether it be 
ihat of the Mahometan, or the Jew, — Protestant, or Calliolic, — whether it 
be idolatrous or spiritual, in whatever form religion h4S been shadowed 
forth to this woild, its votaries hold communion with the Unseen Power 
bv petition. Man as man, the erring, the weak, the naked and trembling 
mortal of a day, goes to the Being who is infinilely his superior, by prayer 
and petition. 

The Almighty's ear is not dull of hearing our petitions and complaints. 
Petition is the everlasting language in all countries and all climes, in all 
acres and condiuons, of the subordinate, asking assistance from man, or de- 
liverance from God. This is inseparable from the condition of man, man 
free, or man a slave. 

What subject so proper, whether presented in person, or by another, as a 
petition to deliver tlie slave from his cruel bondage, his pain, his stripes, his 
insults, — to repeal laws taking away all his rights ; to petition that a man 
may have his wife, a woman her husband, and both their children, — and 
that the daughter and son may not be taken from them and sent where the 
parents shall see them no more, — that their own backs may feel stripes no 
more, — that they may hunger no more, thirst no more, be insulted no more, 
debauched no more, kept ignorant no more, chained no more, and unpaid 
for labor no more. 

The beings, of all others, requiring the intervention of supreme legislative 
power in their behalf, are the poor slaves, already bereaved of every political 
right in this world. Shocking to relate, these same audacious men, who 
have stolen the slave from Africa, by tempting the kidnapper, with their 
money, to go and catch him, or have held the slave as though the slave was 
under special obligation to the master, that he even permits and allows him 
to breathe and swallow God's fresh air, and look upon the same sun with- 
out striking him dead, and that he ought to be delighted to have an oppor- 
tunity to serve a man, naked or in rags, who will suffer him to hoe cotton 
from daylight in his cotton field till dark, and have a peck of corn a week, 
or four cents per day to buy food, — ah! yes, these Southern slavehold- 
ing members of Congress deny the right of petition in behalf of these most 
forlorn beings, who are made wretched by being made the victims of pilfer- 
ing, by having their masters meanly rob them, and steal from them, and 
whip them, to get more out of them, and then say to them, " we have abused 
you so badly that we shall not allow you to state your wrongs to the world 
or to Congress, as we do not intend our incanness shall be known." 

The truth may as well be known to the world first as last. The reason 
why the slaveholders rose up in the face of day and went out of the Hall of 
Representatives of this nation on the 20ih December last, and concocted 
their successful scheme, which was put in execution, the next day to "lay 
all petitions on the subject of slavery unread, unprinted, unreferred, uncon- 
sidered, and undebated on the table," was from shame and conscious guilt, 
not having courage to face their deeds of cruelty, darkness, shame, crime, 
stealing, robbery, debauchery, and meanness, when held up to the glare of 
the world! They withered in advance, before the coming storm. "Ah !" 
say they, " arc we, the sons of chivalry, to be called thieves and sons of 
thieves — we, who are members of Congress, living in pomp on the unpaid 
labor of the helpless, are we to be called devoiirers of widow's houses, yea, 
of the widows themselves and their chihlren ? Shall it be told that we made 
the poor child motherless and fatherless by selling, for money, the father 
from the children one year to a distant part of the country never to leturn, 
the next year that we have sold the mother whose sable breasts were the 
fountains of our infantile subsistence — the next year that we have whipped 



SPKECH OF ALVAN STEWART. 81 

and sold our own children, and uninstructed made them bondmen to the 
number of half a million, who have inherited from us, their white fathers, a 
bastard reputation, and all the wretched sorrows of a slave." Is this a 
father's legacy? 

Deep, conscious guilt, on the part of the Southern masters, has made 
them roar like the ocean's waves, to turn the eyes of the world in every 
direction except toward themselves, — the ears of mankind to hear every 
thing, except the thrice-told tale of slaveholding infamy. Fear, year, shame, 
shame, yes, burning SHAME, laid those resolutions on the table. 

What ! could the slaveholder bear a reference of the tvvo millions of 
petitions, to a select committee who felt deeply for the slave, with power 
to send for persons and papers, and with leave to said committee to sit in 
the vacation, from the coming July till December after, to collect all the 
materials for a report and draw the death warrant of slavery, as the very 
report itself would be ? 

This nation only requires the report of a select committee of seven per- 
sons, energetically employed a few months, to make out the indictment 
against slavery, to have a verdict of guilty pronounced by an injured and 
indignant nation. 

What will be in that report? How will it be made up ? What are the 
materials of such a report, and how are they to be obtained ? Let us look 
at it a little. 

1. This committee should send for all the codes of slave laws, of the 
several states, and of the United States. Bring up, now, those statute b.ooks 
of blood and crime, and you will find them full of high treason against God 
and against humanity. Laws made by the very men who claim this pro- 
perty under those laws. And what do they establish? Why, power, 
irresponsible power, of man over man. This is the beginning and the end, — 
the pervading spirit of the whole code, from beginning to end. Name the 
civil right which these laws secure to the slave ! There are none; there is 
no recognition of a single right in the slave. 

2. What is the sustenance which these laws claim for the black man, as 
the only legal compensation for a life of compulsory toil? Read the words — 
" one peck of corn per week" — that is, two shillings a week, or about six 
mills for each meal. Our Northern horses, — pardon me, I do not in- 
tend to be low; it touches humanity, and cannot be low ; — I was saying 
our Northern horses must have at least twenty-five cents per day in oats — 
or fourteen shillings per week. The keeping of one Northern horse is 
equal to that of fourteen Southern slaves. There is no man in a laborious 
employment here, who does not pay a dollar and a half or two dollars a 
week for his board. Does a Northern man eat fourteen times as much as 
one at the South ? No, but the saving is in the quality and cost of the food. 
Figures will tell you, that in the article of keeping alone, the master of 200 
slaves will make a saving of $314 a week, barely by the deductions from 
the poor slave's stomach. This in a year would make the pretty sum of 
sixteen thousand dollars, pinched out of these wretched men! The whole 
world would cry out, " Oh, inhumanity !" But until such an investigation 
can be made, 1 fear this nation will not believe the fact, although we show 
it in the very statute books of the South. Very probably there are numbers 
here to-day, who will set all this down as abolition slang, not worthy of 
belief or regard. But if they could see the evidence brought out in a 
Congressional report, the whole nation would cry out, in a voice that might 
almost rend the rocks, for the speedy abolition of this detestable system, 

3. There is another thing which we should find in these statute books of 
the slave states. No black man can, in any circumstances, be a witness 

11 



81 S|;lOND l^AV l-VLMNU <ESS1UN. 

against a while man. Hang that fact up before the nation and the world. 
Add to it, that by the slave code no marriage can be binding between a 
slave and his wife, but may be dissolved :ii any moment by the arbitrary 
will of the master. Then, again, the parent has no authority over the child, 
to train or govern him according to the law of God. Hang that up to view. 
Go on, now, and make a full synopsis of these laws. You will tind, how- 
ever, that they have made provision for hanging the man who shall murder 
a slave. Now, then, lei the committee summon all the clerks of the 
counties throughout tlie slave region, to bring iheir records, and certify 
whether there has ever been a single instance of a master being hanged for 
ihe murder of a slave. Yet, in North Carolina, not long since, two white 
men were hung for merely coaxing a slave away from his master. And, I 
suppose, a single sheet would contain a list of all the cases on record, of 
punishments indicted on masters for cruelties or injuries indicted on their 
slaves. 

4. Next, I would have the committee of Congress call up ten experienced 
planters from each of the slave slates, to testify, what is the political eco- 
nomy of slavery. 1 would require them to state, as honest men, whether 
the question has not been often discussetl among them, which is the most 
profitable, to work slaves to death in five years, when cotton is fourteen 
cents per pound, or to work them twenty years, with cotton at ten cents. 
Inquire of them whether one-third of the plantation slaves are not let out to 
tenants, whose only interest is to get out of those poor creatures the greatest 
possible amount of labor with the least possible expense for subsistence and 
comfort. And yel we have men among us, who have rolled through the 
South in the public conveyances, and seen the well-fed servants at the 
hotels, and who tell you they know all about slavery, for they have been 
there, and the slaves are the happiest class of beincs in the world. 

5. Next, 1 would send for some men of a class that I believe it is Patrick 
Henry describes as ihe fcciilum of creation, the scrapings of humanity, — 
the slave drivers. Northern men, who have sold themselves, body and soul, 
to carry on this dreadful business in the detail. I would interrogate them 
as to the various modes of subduing a refractory spirit, of finding out whe- 
ther a slave is sick or feigns sickness, and all the various expedients of 
cruelty by which an overseer tries to build up the reputation of a great 
labor-getter. 

6. Let our Congressional committee then send for a hundred free men 
from the slave states, who have never owned a slave themselves, nor their 
relations, and let them tell what they know about the cruelties and the pol- 
lutions incident to the system of slavery. 

7. Then I would send for a hundred free colored men, who should be 
allowed for the first time, under the security of the strong arm of the nati<in, 
to testify of their wrongs. Let each one tell how often and by what hair- 
breadth escapes he has avoided being kidnapped into slavery. Let him 
turn to that law which allows the magistrate to exile a free colored man 
from his country, on ten day's notice, unheard, untried, without cause, 
without compensation, as passion or caprice may dictate, with confiscation 
of his estate ; and if he refuses lo go, to be sold as a slave, and his children 
after him for ever. 

8. Then I would have them call for a hundred of the ten thousand fugitive 
slaves, that have found a refuge in Canada, under the government of a 
hereditary monarch, from the lender mercies of our republican institutions. 
Let them tell of hopes crushed and hearts broken, of what they endured in 
slavery, and of the suflerings and anxieties through which they have passed 
while in the pursuit of liberty. 



spr.F.nr or at.anron st. clair. 83 

9. Then I would have brought up before the committee a hundred slaves 
from the cotton-fields and the sugar-houses, who should give ocular de- 
monstration of what slavery is. I would have them freed, and protected 
by a strong force, and then they should show their persons abused, their 
limbs mutilated, their brands and gashes, their backs cut from the shoulders 
to the heels with republican stripes. 

When the committee have gathered all the information in their power, let 
it be embodied in a report. It would make a volume of a tliousand pages. 
Then send that report through the land. I/et the mails burst and the stages 
groan with the mighty load, telling the naked truth on this subject, in an 
oiiicial and authentic form ; — and I tell you, slavery never lifts its abominable 
head again. All that the nation wants is to have a case once made out to 
their conviction, that slavery is what abolitionists charge it to be, and our 
work is done. 

This mountain of iniquity would then stand before ever}'' honest mind in 
all its dreadful prominence. The people, horror-struck, would cry out 
against it. The foundations of the great deep of crime, as yet unfathomed, 
would be broken up. As yet who hath believed our report, as abolitionists? 
But this would be moral demonstration. It would be taken on the oath of 
the people of the dark and sullen regions of slavery. — Yes, with this report, 
the nation would pronounce their everlasting condemnation and overthrow 
of slavery, and all would be Free. 



SPEECH OF A LAN SON ST. CLAIR. 

Mr. President : — It will not be expected, after the long and extremely 
interesting speeches of the two gentlemen who have addressed this meeting, 
that I should add any interest, if, indeed, it will be possible for me, for any 
length of time, to keep them in the Hall. The time to which I am limited 
is short — too short to do any justice to the subject on which I had designed 
to speak; and had I not been urged by gentlemen in whose judgment I 
confide more than in my own, I should not have consented to open my mouth 
this evening. 

Sir, there is, in New England, a numerous class of men who are aboli- 
tionists — firm, very firm — " as much as any body, but" — . Nor from what I 
have seen and heard in this city can I doubt that you are blessed, in Phila- 
delphia, with the same class of friends to the poor slave. Tliey believe our 
doctrines to be true — heartily espouse our principles, but disapprove our 
measures. These they regard as extremely imprudent and injudicious, if 
not anti-christian and ferocious. With regard to the subject of emancipation, 
tbey have never done any thing but merely to open their mouths, and never 
opened their mouths but to find fault with those who are laboring with all 
their might to bring it about ; having always stood aloof from abolitionists, 
carped at all their well meant but persecuted endeavors, pointed out their 
minutest faults and defects, and sagely admonished them to listen to the 
warning voice of instruction, to abandon their present modus operandi, and 
to adopt and pursue such measures as their opponents can approve. 

Sir, I culled these gentlemen abolitionists. The fact that they are, they 
do not wish to remain at all dubious. No man ever puts the question but 
they answer with emphasis in the affirmative, and, lest it should be doubted, 
they go on to re-aflirm : " Yes, I am as much of an abolitionist as you or 
any other man — I hate slavery as bad as any body — I have been an aboli- 



8t SECOND DAY EVENING SRSSION. 

tionisi as Ion? as I have been a in:in — 1 look upon slavery as being a great 
evil, and would do almost any tiling to remove it — but, [and here comes 
the rub] 1 wish you distinctly to understand, I have no sympathy with abo- 
litionists — I do not like thi'ir measures — 1 believe they misrepresent the in- 
tentions and conduct of the master and the condition of the slave, and make 
the system appear much more wicked and cruel than it is ever found in prac- 
tice. I have been in the slave states and seen tlie slaves, and 1 believe a 
majority of them are kindly treated, content, and happy." 

It would, doubtless, be uncharitable and cruel to suspect the sincerity of 
profession or soundness of principle in these self-styled abolitionists, — al- 
though, if the professed friend of any other cause gave no evidence of love 
and attachment to its principles but mere profession, and labored to make that 
ample in the same ratio that he fell short in practice, one might possibly set 
down his over anxiety to appear true, as a just ground of suspicion as to the 
soundness of his principles on the whole subject. Great and frequent pro- 
fessions are unnecessary, where faith is shown by works. People find out 
fast enough that the abolitionists are opposed to slavery, without their tak- 
ing the trouble of stating the fact. Nor should I be greatly surprised, if, 
before I close my remarks, some had become so uncharitable as to deem op- 
position to our measures an evidence that men do not approve our princi- 
ples; and to suspect that those who make this opposition are under the neces- 
sity, nt the same time, of making great professions of hatred to slaverVt 
in order to have it believed that they entertain any such feeling at heart. 
Men as much opposed to slavery as you, and yet propping it up with apo- 
logies and excuses ! — hate it as bad as any body, and yet complain that yon 
hold it up in a light too odious ! What would you say of a professed Chris- 
tian, who should complain that you ilenounced sin too unsparingly, and 
gave the Devil too wicked and cruel a character .' 

Our measures, sir, — what are they ? I have never seen a fault-finder who 
knew. Are they injudicious? Are they imprudent ? Are they unchristian? 
Are they ferocious ? Are they not the same which are adopted by all moral 
reformers in the world, to overthrow long-standing and deep-rooted sins ? I 
mistake, if on examination they be not found the very same, and if the 
hearer be not astonislied that any professed Christian or philanthropist could 
find it in his heart to reject or carp at them. 

In all moral, civil, and political reforms, not only must the evil to be re- 
moved be exposed, and clearly seen and felt, and the results to be ellected 
be explained and understood, — but there must be a connexion between the 
means and end ; the one must be adapted to the other, and calculated to 
bring it about. Abolitionists believe slaveholdiiig to be a sin, a sin of the 
first magnitude, a sin in all possible circumstances — that no human being 
ran reduce another to, or hold him in, the condition of a slave, without 
guilt — that all who are now in this practice, ought immediately to abandon 
it, and restore the victims of oppression to their unalienable rights ; and 
they know this fold practice has sheltered itself behind the broad .EGIDE 
of the statutes of the nation and stales for protection. Whether these opi- 
nions be true or false is not now the question. They are our principles, 
and it is enough that the opponent admits them to be true, and approves 
them. I shall take this fact for granted, and endeavor to show that our 
measures are well adapted to make them known and felt, and thus to remove 
the evil at which they are aimed. I desire it to be distinctly remem- 
bered that mv remarks are designed for thosi-, and those only, who believe 
and approve these principles, but object to our measures ; and such oppo- 
nents muol not forget their admissions and attempt to lake them back, when 



SPEECH OF ALANSON ST. ll.AIR. 85 

they come to see our moral and political machinery. In what does this 
consist ? 

First. The organization of ourselves into voluntary associations, called 
Anti-Slavery Societies, on the principle that slavoholding is sinful and ought 
to be immediately abandoned, (which the opponent admits,) in order to 
combine our moral strength, and produce the means to promulge these prin- 
ciples. 

Second. The appointment of lecturers or agents, to travel through the 
community and teach those principles. 

Third. The employment of the press to promulge those principles, and 
no others ; to hold up the sin of slaveholding and the duty of its abandon- 
ment. 

Fourth. The holding of annual, quarterly, and monthly meetings for the 
same purpose, to learn the progress we have made, to encourage each other 
to persevere, and pray God for aid. 

Fifth. The petitioning of Congress to repeal the laws by which slaverj' 
is now upheld, in those sections which are under its control, — to abolish the 
slave trade between the states, and to cease yielding the system any sup- 
port. 

Sixth. The use of the ballot-box, in the hand of tlie freeman, to send 
such men into the councils of the nation, as will carry out the principles of 
our forefathers in the Declaration of Independence. 

These, sir, are the measures of the abolitionists, and all the measures 
that I know any thing about, adopted by them, for the accomplishment of 
their designs. Are these injudicious, imprudent, unwise, anti-christian, 
ferocious ? Let us analyze and compare them with our principles and willi 
the measures of other societies. 

The first measure of abolitionists is the organization of voluntary asso- 
ciations, on the avowed principle that slaveholding is a heinous sin in the 
sight of God, which, like all other sins, ought to be immediately repented of 
and abandoned, for the purpose of combining and concentrating moral power, 
and giving it such a direction as to rectify public opinion, and kindle it into 
a flame against slaveholding, which shall, one day, burn it out, root and 
branch. 

Slaveholding, as has been already remarked, has entrenched itself behind 
the power of the national statute book for protection. How is it to be 
driven from this strong hold ? Can it be dethroned without the same power 
that has crowned it? And what is that, but the Congress of this nation I 
How can Congress be brought to act against it, but by petitions, instruc- 
tions, and the ballot-box ? How can you get these machines in operation, 
but by the general concert and action of the people ? How can you pro- 
cure that general concert and action, but by exposing the wickedness and 
horrors of the system to be abolished, and the unmerited suffering of its 
wretched victims ? And how can you come at the necessary men and 
means to lay open its penetralia and bring to light its astounding secrets, 
unless those who know them, will associate and pledge themselves to scat- 
ter the light thoroughly over the land ? This is what we have done and are 
still doing ; — and is this an injudicious or unwise measure ? So does not 
the slaveholder believe. 

Sir, is not voluntary association to combine moral power and produce 
joint effort, for the exposure of sin, the first step toward any moral reform ? 
Was there ever one produced in the world, of which this was not the prin- 
cipal lever ? Was not this measure adopted by the Son of God, for the 
salvation of a lost world ? Did he not first establish his religion by orga- 
nizing those already converted into societies, founded on the great princi- 



80 SECOND DAY — TVEMNC SESSION. 

pics of iriilh and righleoiisnes? revealed in the Gospel ? Their numbers may 
have been small, but slill ihey were societies, voluntary associations — affi- 
liated fur a single purpose — tlie propagation of their doctrine, the overthrow 
of heathenism, and the conversion of men to tlieir principles — as much as 
any anti-slavery society at the present day. Was not the measure opposed, 
at that day, by the enemies of Christianity, as being violent and fanatical ? 
Was he not achnonished to be careful how he attempted its prosecution ? 
Was it not in consequence of persevering, in contempt and detiance of these 
prudent suggestions, that he suflered death ? 

Ilis disciples adopted the same measures, and prosecuted the plans laid 
by their master. Terrible as was the admonition they received in his fate, 
it proved inadequate to teach his followers prudence and discretion. They 
went forward in his footsteps, unmoved by this and subsequent obstacles 
and outrages, otherwise than as they tended to quicken their zeal. Neither 
the cautions of the timid, the threats of the violent, nor the death of their 
brethren, could teach them wisdom, ff'e, sir, are deemed mad, when, ad- 
monished by the fall of one of our nimiber by the rilles of a pack of assas- 
sins in consequence of adhesion to his principles, we will not pause and 
seal our lips in silence. It will be time to do so, when, like those of our 
master anil his apostles, they are sealed in death. Did t/ifi/ turn bark, 
abandon their cause and disband their societies, because hypocritical Phari- 
sees cried out " Vou disturb our beloved Zion, and divide our church" — or 
because wily politicians and aspiring demagogues bade them to cease agi- 
tating tlie community with their new doctrines, and even accused them of 
treason ? Did they forsake their mighty engine of voluntary association, 
because their enemies pronounced it a violent measure? No, sir ; they 
only refilled the furnace with burning coals of truth, raised the moral steam 
still higher, and set the machinery in more rapid motion. Voluntary asso- 
ciations — affiliated societies — are these a violent and unchristian measure ? 
Then were our blessed Lord and his apostles violent and unchristian men. 

Sir, what is every religious society which now is, or ever has been, in 
existence, but a voluntary association — affiliated for the purpose of sustain- 
ing and promulging their principles, of changing the opinions of men, and 
bringing them, as far as may be, to think anil act with themselves ? What 
was the lever with which Ltither, Calvin, and Knox upturned the deep 
foundations of Poi)ery in Germany, CJeneva, and Scotland ? Voluntary as- 
sociations. Every where, in their power, they combined men to(jether, on 
the principles of independent interpretation of Scripture — Uible open to all — 
no mass — no license — no worship of ininofps. Thev were most unspar- 
ingly denounced by the Pope and his minions, as censorious, impudent, 
idtra, fanatical traitors. 'I'heir books were burned bv the hangman, as " a 
scandal to pious ears." Hewards were olfcred for their heads. Many of 
their friends thought " molasses much hotter than vinegar to catch flies," 
They replied, " that it might be, but that it was foxes, not flies, they were 
hunting, and that nothing would afTect Popery, unless it had a bite." We 
are very happy this evening to sit in the enjoyment of the rich blessings, de- 
rived by us from the voluntary associations which these men gathered, 
amidst sufl'ering and peril ; and arc we at the same time to denounce the mea- 
sure as unchiistian ? Sh;dl we light our torch at the altar of religion, to 
burn down her temple ? 

What is the leading measure, by which professed Christians, through the 
• ivilizcd world, are laboring to send the gospel to, and convert the heathen ? 
What, but voluntary associations — Uilile and missionary societies. 'I'hrough- 
out ( 'hristcndom are they already organized and in active operation. Is not 
the measure a good one ? Who has ever pronounced it violent, ultra, or 



SrEKCli OF ALANSON ST. CLAIR. 87 

unchristian ? By wliat means have the ravages of intemperance been stayed 
in the New Enghuui and Middle states, within the last few years, and so 
many tipplers and drunkards been reformed ? By voluntary associations, 
called Temperance Societies. Men have united on the great principle, that 
it is wicked to drink alcohol, pledging themselves to abstain from all drink 
which will intoxicate, and have labored incessantly to cover drunkenness 
with reproach, until it has now become almost as much as a man's reputa- 
tion is worth to be seen using intoxicating drink. The measure was bitterly 
denounced by the distiller, importer, and vender. But if it continues to be 
prosecuted much longer with the same success which has hitherto attended 
it, these gentlemen will not, many years longer, have the pleasure of mea- 
suring out liquid poison to their neighbors. 

Thus, sir, has voluntary association been the leading measure in all moral 
reforms. Are not the results it has produced sufficient vouchers for its cha- 
racter and tendency ? And is it not just as good, when applied to the over- 
throw of slavery, as to that of any other sin ? Can you destroy tJiis, any 
more than other sins, without combining the moral power of men against 
it ? The opponent admits, that the result to be produced is good, and ac- 
knowledges the principle to be sound, on which the association is based. 
Why then should those, who approve our principles, oppose it, when ap- 
plied to the abolition of slavery ? Sir, to be consistent, they must either 
abandon all other societies of which they are members, or renounce our 
principles, and cease to call themselves abolitionists, or else join with us 
and give the weight and influence of their character, example, and efforts 
to overturn this heaven-defying castle of iniquity. 

Our second and third measures too nearly resemble each other, to need 
being discussed separately. They are the appointment of agents to lecture, 
and the employment of the press to publish our sentiments. They are both 
of such a nature as to need little labor to show their soundness and indis- 
pensability. 

If slavery is ever overthrown, the work must be done either by physical 
force, or by moral suasion. Either tlie master must be satisfied slaveholding 
is sinful, and persuaded to relinquish his present tyrannic grasp, — the slave 
must fight his way to liberty or remain where he is, — or the military 
power of the nation must force him from his master's hold. Which of 
these is the proper mode for the adoption of the Christian, no man can be 
at a loss to determine. The abolitionist chooses the moral power, and to 
put it in action resorts to the forum, the pulpit, and the press. These are 
the guardians of a nation's freedom and morality, — the palladium of liberty 
and the buhvark of religion. They are all liable to be abused and perverted, 
but that they are in themselves evil, will not be pretended. Virtue flies to 
them as a shield ; but vice shuns them as the robber does the sheriff. 
They are resorted to by every sect or party in Christendom, for the accom- 
plishment of their purposes, unless those purposes are of a character which 
will not bear the light. 

Why, then, may we not resort to these means in common with every 
body else? Is not the eff'ect we are laboring to produce good, great, and 
glorious ? Do any complain of the principles we lay down, the doctrine 
M'e preach, the sentiments we publish? Oh no ; their truth is admitted ; the 
opponent approves of our principles. How, then, can it be wrong for an 
abolitionist to preach these principles in the pulpit or publish them in a 
book, pamphlet, or newspaper ? Or, in accordance with these principles, 
how can it be wrong for him to spread through the whole nation a know- 
ledge of the wickedness, cruelties, and horrors of slaveholding ? since it is 



bH SECOND iJAV — tVK.MNG i«KSS10X. 

perfectly right for any oilier society, sect, or party, to employ these measures 
to promote any end which they approve, and which it is proper to attain ? 
Is it really unchri.>-ti in in the hated Anti-fSlavery societies to appoint agents 
or ministers of truth, to travel tlirongh, and wake up a slumbering cora- 
miiiiity snoring over the condition of twenty-five hundred thousand human 
beiiitrs, who are groaning under the vilest system of oppression that ever 
saw the sun ? • 

Sir : every religious denomination, benevolent combination, political 
party, money-making corporation, scientific or literary club, may freely 
establish its press and send out its agent, to arrest public opinion ; nay, 
even deists and atheists may write and scatter falsehood and immorality 
broad-ciist over the United tStates ; and all is quiet; no one is alarmed. 
They have a perfect right, says public sentiment, to speak and publish their 
opinions. Why, then, should ///o/, which is not merely harmless, but meri- 
torious, in every other combination in the country, be so wicked and abomi- 
nable in us? Infidels may ride rough-shod over every thing holy in our cities, 
and no one molests. Hut if abolitionists raise the long-hushed cry '* that all 
men are created equal," and bid the oppressor "break every yoke," — not 
hornets, but brickbats, are flying about his ears. If these measures be un- 
christian, our opponents are all involved with us in the guilt, for they all 
adopt them. Let them change their course and we will award them the 
meed of consistency. But where is tlie man to be found, who will not be 
obliged to plead guilty, if these two measures arc unchristian ? one of them 
was adopted by the Saviour of the world, and the other would have been, 
had the art of printing been known at his advent. Did he not appoint his 
agents and send them through all the nations of tlie East, agitating whole 
communities like an ocean laslied into madness by a violent tempest ? Did 
he not command them to agitate the whole world in the same manner. 
'I'hough the Jews and heathen ranted, raved, mobbed, and murdered them 
for these measures, did they ever change or abandon them, or, for a moment, 
loose siglit of their great purpose ? 

Sir: to reject these two measures were to abandon the very principles 
which the objector professes to approve. How could we get a knowledge 
of our principles to the public, except through the public ear and eye ? 
And what modes have wc of reaching these, but the press and pulpit? 
None at all ; and to relinquish them is to eive up our principles. What, 
then, is the meaning — the plain English — of this cry against our measures ? 
And why are nearly ail the pulpits in the land shut against the advocates of 
God's poor? The clergy claim to be abolitionists, — to approve our princi- 
ciplcs. Then why not permit our agents to go into their churches and 
preach their own sentiments ? 'i'hey hold no other opinions on great 
subjects of humanity, which they would be unwilling to liave avowed and 
defended in their churches, unless they were opinions of which they would 
be ashamed. They hold anti-slavery sentiments ! Why, then, are they 
so niortallv olTcnded, when I publish their own sentiments on slaveholding, 
and send them through the country in books, papers, and pamphlets ? 
Every body in the free stales, they tell us, is opposed to slavery. Hut is 
it not unaccountable, on this supposition, that men should break up our 
printing presses, shut their church doors in our faces, dash in our windows 
with brickbats, break our furniture, and burn it before our eyes, apply the 
torch to our houses, and then slioot us down with their rifles ? Is this pro- 
slavery compensation for preaching and publishing princij)les, which they 
believe as much as we do ? fan that man really hate slavery in his heart, 
who is ready to die in convulsions of nrgrophobia, the moment you say a 



SPEECH OF ALANSON ST. CLAIR. 89 

word against it? If the tree is to be known by its fruits, and il' " actions 
speak louder than words," it is very certain he hates abolitionism quite as 
bad as slaveholding. 

Our fourth measure, — the holding of meetings to learn and communicate a 
knowledge of the condition of our cause, and of our past success, — to en- 
courage each other, and to pray God for assistance, — is of a nature to need 
no explanation or discussion. It is adopted by every society of believers 
in a God, and commends itself at once to the understanding and the heart. 
They all have their stated meetings annually, quarterly, monthly, or weekly, 
as they judge proper, and I conclude no one will pronounce this measure to 
be unchristian, rash, or imprudent. I shall, therefore, pass it over, and take 
up the two remaining ones. Previous to discussing these, however, I beg 
leave to offer a few desultory remarks upon the four on which I have been 
speaking. 

Voluntary associations, with the liberty of meeting freely and frequently 
together, of discussing the rights of man, the wrongs he suffers, and their 
own duties in relation to the oppressed, conscious that they are gathered in 
the name, and acting under the approbation, of God, with the thousand 
wings of the press, and conscientious, pious, talented lecturers to preach 
their sentiments, are an engine the most formidable and fearful to tyrants 
of any thing to be imagined. Why have they always been suppressed by 
despotic sovereigns? Why has the Pope feared them worse than ten thou- 
sand devils ? Why has the Autocrat of Russia interdicted them under such 
severe pains and penalties ? Why, in order to crush them, did the tyrant of 
France establish his hundred-eyed police ? Because they all well knew 
that, if voluntary associations, with any of these facilities, were tolerated, 
their subjects would soon understand their own rights and deny the divine 
right of kings, and that their crowns would then sit lightly upon their heads, 
if, indeed, they were not trodden in the dust. 

But the tyrants of the " old world" are not the only men who understand, 
and tremble at, the results of voluntary associations, organized for intellec- 
tual, political, or moral purposes, and swayed by conscience and the com- 
mands of God. Our tyrants fear them no less than they. Look for a 
moment to the history of the last four years. What has rocked the high 
and low places of this nation with the violence of Egypt, when God set 
down the foot of his Almighty power to tread out the tyranny of Pharaoh? 
The opponent will probably reply, the abolitionists. But what have they 
done? Have they menaced the nation with an invading army, threatening 
slaughter and destruction? Have they invaded any man's rights, or set at 
defiance, or even disobeyed, any of the laws of the land ? Had they done 
this they had been stopped at once, for there are not wanting men disposed 
to put the penal laws in execution against them. No, sir ; they have 
simply held meetings, preached, prayed, and published their sentiments. 
Instead of invading rights, they have discussed and asserted them ; instead 
of disobeying laws, they have shown how slaveholders are living daily in 
violation of the laws of God and man. This has been our offence, and it is 
the fear of the results which this will produce, that has called forth the "sea 
of fire, mingled with blood," in which they have been compelled to swim. 
A few years ago, when there was not an anti-slavery society in the 
country, and when all was a dead calm of indifference in relation to the 
condition of the slave, when slaveholding was rather considered as an evil 
than a sin, and the master as deserving more sympathy than the poor victim 
of his avarice and cruelty, any man might write, publish, and preach what 
he pleased on the subject; not a pulpit was shut against it, not a mob 
threatened disturbance. Any minister might write and publish a sermon, 

12 



550 SKtOND DAV tVtMNO StSMON. 

ihe Society of l-'riends might send out an epistle or menioiial on the "great 
evil of slavery," and no body was offended. Even the Southern reviewers 
would notice them wiih great favor and approbation, assuring the benevolent 
author, or authors, that the slaveliolders were not less sensible of the evils of 
slavery, than their Northern brethren, — but always concluding with the 
portentous question, " What can we do?" "Sure enough," said the good 
Northerner, " the slaveholder is as much opposed to slavery as we are, 
and if any thing could be done, he would be the first to put his shoulder to 
the wheel." This little question, " what can we do," at the close of an 
article approving of these good men's efforts, was a sufficient moral anodyne; 
it stupitk'd their coni^cience and quieted all their anxiety on the subject. 
Their efforts had perhaps sent out a straggling rav of moral light across the 
dark path of slavery, and exposed the hideousness of a horn or a cloven foot, 
but it shot rapidly along, leaving the thick darkness to close in after it, 
which seemed to be increased by the momentary light with which it had 
been disturbed. The monster slavery, like the Greek philosopher, who 
cut off his dog's tail to turn the attention of the eager multitude away 
from his real faults, smiled most complaisantly as it passed by, hoping that, 
if, by approving such scattering and ineffectual efforls, he could keep the 
community from organizing formidable and fatal opposition, he might yet 
be able to live on unharmed. Hut, no sooner was the sentiment avowed, 
that slaveholding was not merely an evil, but a sin, and that no man, in any 
circumstances, could be innocent in chatteUizing a human being, in holding 
him as an article of properly, liable to be sold under the hammer like a 
beast, than Southern reviewers began to change their notes, and slaveholding 
ministers to metamorphose the Bible, in order to uphold that which, but a 
short time before, they hated as bad as any body, and would have been glad 
to get rid of, but did not know how to come at it. No sooner did the men 
and women, in the free states, who believed this principle, begin to colled 
themselves together into a moral lens, that they might gather up all the 
scattering light in the land, concentrate and pour it in an incessant, burn- 
ing stream, upon the persons living in the commission of this sin, than you 
find the monster alarmed for his existence, lloundering in the struggles of 
dissolving nature, foaming out his venom and spite on all who labor to bring 
him into the light, threatening to sever the union of the nation if this lens 
be not broken, lashing his minions into fury, and calling on the mob at the 
North, to step forward and save him, by scattering and destroying the anti- 
slavery societies, and upon the slaveholders in the South, to destroy, by 
Lynch Law, every abolitionist who goes into a Southern slate. 

Whence all this alarm and panic I Our opponents gravely admonish us 
to cease agitating this subject, because we can never uccoinpUsh any thing; 
declaring our measures to be incapable of affecting the South, or of reaching 
the slaveholder. Sir ; are these threats, struggles, and convulsions, the 
result of weak and ineffectual measures ? 'I'hey give the slaveholder little 
credit for common sense. Suppose our leading opinion were, that the 
moon is green cheese, or, that the earth is hollow and inhabited on the 
inside. Suppose we met every year, month, or week, to make out these 
points, and had fifty presses and twice as many agents employed in spread- 
ing the opinion? llow many mol)s would it raise? How many mail 
robbery associations, or Lynch committees, would be organized in the 
Southern states, to put us down and destroy our publications ? Or suppose 
you were to come down the Delaware to this city, and, on landing, found 
the whole disposable force of this nation drawn up in battle order upon its 
shore. They arc braced in armor lo the teeth, standing with faces pale, 
swords drawn, bayonets fixed, muskets loaded, and cannon charged to the 



SPEECH OF ALANSON ST. CLAIR. 91 

muzzle. You ask the coininander wherefore this numerous gathering and these 
awful preparations ? In reply, he points across the river to a crow sitiini^ 
upon the fence, and inquires, " Do you see that bird ?" "Yes." " Well," 
says he, " we intend to prevent his flying into this city if we can." Would 
you believe it? Just as likely would you see the present indications of 
slaveholding preparation to defend their " peculiar institutions," or the 
ebullition of their wrath and fury every where exhibited, if they did not 
know their pet is in danger. These men are not fools, whatever may be said 
of their morality. You do not easily get them on a false scent, or alarm 
them with goblins. If they considered our measures either ill-suited to 
the end they are designed to attain, or impotent in themselves, instead of 
putting themselves thus on the defensive, they would bid us go onward, and 
laugh at our folly. 

Again : — whence this panic, these threats, this violence, in the whole 
South? Do they fear robbery, insurrection, or invasion? Not at all. 
Listen to the following confessions from the most talented and eagle-eyed 
of their statesmen : 

" Do they (the Southerners) expect the abolitionists will resort to arms — 
will commence a crusade to liberate our slaves by force ? * * * Ijet me 
tell our friends of the South, who differ from us, that the war which the 
abolitionists wage against us is of a very difl'erent character, and far more 
effective; it is waged, not against our lives, but our characters." — John C. 
I'cilhoun. 

" We have most to fear from the eftects of organized action upon the 
consciences and fears of the slaveholders themselves — from the insinuation 
of these dangerous heresies (anti-slavery sentiments) into our schools, our 
pulpits, and our domestic circles. We have most to fear from their gradual 
operation on public opinion among ourselves. And those are the most 
insidious and dangerous invaders of our rights and interests, who, coming 
to us in the guise of friendship, endeavor to persuade us that slavery is a 
sin, a curse, and an evil. It is not true that the South sleeps on a volcano— 
that we are fearful of murder and pillage. Our greatest cause of apprehen- 
sion is from the operation of the morbid sensibility, which appeals to the 
consciences of our own people, and would make them the voluntary instru- 
ments of their own ruin," [i. e., of emancipation.] — Duff Green. 

" Are we to wait till our enemies have built up a body of public opinion 
against us, which it would be almost impossible to resist, without separating 
ourselves from the social system of the rest of the civilized world?"— Goy. 
Hamilton. 

" The petitions do not come to us as heretofore, single and far apart, 
from the quiet routine of the Society of Friends, or the obscure vanity of 
some philanthropic club; but they are sent to us in vast numbers from 
soured and agitated communities; poured in upon us fi-om the overflowing 
of public sentiment, which every where in all Western Europe, and Eastern 
America, has been lashed into excitement on this subject. The bosom of 
society heaves with new and violent emotions." — Senator Preston. 

" To acknowledge the right or to tolerate the act of interference at all, 
with this institution, is to give it up — to abandon it entirely. The South 
nmst hold this institution, 7iot amidst alarm and molestation, but in peace, 
perfect peace, from the interference or agitation of others, or, I repeat it, 
she will — she can, hold it not at all. * * * * The spirit of abolition 
has advanced and is advancing. It increases by opposition, it triumphs by 
defeat."— i?o6erf B. lihett. 

Such are some of the confessions of slaveholders themselves. Do they 
not clearly establish these two points ? Firsl, that our measures are the 



92 SECOND DAV EVENING SESSION. 

proper and only eflectual ones to baiter down this Baslile of slavery ? And 
second, thai iliey ilieinselves have no apprehensions of violence on the pari 
of the abolitionists, or of insurrection from the workings of their measures, 
but simply that they fear such repentance on the pari of those slaveholders 
who have any conscience, and such contempt and public scorn on the part 
of oihcrs, as will ultimately induce the whole to emancipate iheir slaves ? 

I suppose, sir, the objector has by this lime lost his opposition to these 
measures, and is ready to take a new position; to declare himself in favor 
of the measures themselves, but opposed to our mode of applying ihcm. 
*• A man," he will say, " may be very sick, and in need of a physician and 
medicine. Another may be sent for to examine his case, and administer to 
his wants. He may have the right medicine in his pocket; but if he be 
an ignoranl quack, knows not one drug from another, and deals out opium 
when he ought to give rhubarb, or henbane instead of castor oil, he will be 
much more likely to kill than cure his patient." Very true. An excellent 
comparison. I will be ihe quack, the objector the skilful physician, and 
the poor slave the sick patient. He and I stand in the highway, and see the 
wretched creature dying of pain, writhing, struggling, and agonizing for 
life. He cries out, "help! help! or I perish." We sland and look al 
each other, declaring how much we hate sickness in the abstract, and what 
we should be willing to do for its removal. But as lo this poor sick 
man, before our eyes, we forbear lo move, lest we should make him 
sicker, — still knowing that, unless relieved in a few hours, he must 
certainly die. Impressed with the conviction that he will die in his 
present condition, I go up and give him a medicine — or attempt to give it — 
but my cautious neighbor cries out "Forbear; you do not know enough 
about that mailer, lo administer any thing to him." " Well, doctor, won't 
you take him in hand ? he must have help or die ?" •' That may be," 
says the good physician ; " but I am not sure but he will die, if I undertake 
to cure him, and I have no notion of resting under ihe odium of a murderer." 
I have the same medicine he has, but he insists I shall not give ihe sick man 
a particle, because I do not know how to apply it. Is it not, then, very 
clear, thai he is bound to take holil and aid him, if he knows, better than 1, 
what is needed ? And if it be in his power to save the man's life, and yel 
he refuses, is he not guilly of his death? And '.hat a thousand limes more 
than if he had attempted lo cure him, and he hail died under ihe operation 
of his medicine ? 

Let us now apply this last illustration. The opponent believes our prin- 
ciples and measures are both good, but stands aloof because we do not 
properly apply them. Is he not bound, then, to step forward and make 
the application himself? He says we are harsh and violent in our language, 
and this defeats the end we labor to attain. Very will. Let him come in 
and do belter. We have done the best we could with the men we have 
had. Our c:iuse has been extremely unpopular, 'i'he prudent, cautious, 
and timid, have stood aloof. None was willing lo plead for the slave, 
unless he were a bold, headstrong man, not afraid to do it with a halter 
round his neck, or a brickbat flying about his ears. These men are not 
the ones to cull ihe vocabulary for smooth terms, or to stop and knock ihe 
rouuh corners from their sentences. Had the prudent and cautious taken 
hold of the work at ihe first, and given ue their sympathies, counsel, and 
influence, instead of shunning, frowning upon, and jeering us, we should 
probably have been saved fronj all the evils of which they now complain. 
They are still looking on with a lynx eye, observing our faults, writing 
down our mistakes, and carping at our errors. Why do they not take hold 
and correct ihose evils ' and not be passing by on the other side, with 



SPEECH OF ALANSOX ST. ri.AIR. 93 

priest and Levile indiflerence, while the slave is perishing for want of help? 
They complain of our leaders. But we admit no leaders — we are brethren 
in this cause, working shoulder to shoulder. But if they will have it that 
there are leaders, and they dislike the direction in which they draw, let them 
buckle on the harness and give us a belter lead ; we shall not hesitate to 
follow, if they lead in the way of emancipation. If they know where all 
our errors lie, are they not the very men to correct them ? Whence, then, 
this carping about men and measures ? What sort of an apology will it be 
at the day of judgment, for having refused to open their mouths for the 
dumb, that they did not like the style in which the abolitionists plead their 
cause ? 

Thus much for our moral machinery. Let us now take a peep at the 
political, which is involved in the fifth and sixth measures, — the ballot-box 
and petition. Against both of these, the demagogue and party politician 
will, no doubt, be ready to cry aloud. But, with God's blessing, we will, 
in a few years, make them cry the other side of their mouths. That cry is, to 
my mind, proof positive that the measures are sound and well applied. Snakes 
do not hiss, unless you disturb their repose. Nor would these gentlemen, 
unless they saw a probability of their downy seats being upset by the anti- 
slavery car, give themselves much trouble about our measures. They need 
not be alarmed ; we have a large and gallant car, which will afford them all 
ample accommodation, if they will only come on board and become anti- 
slavery passengers. 

Petition and the ballot-box are the hands on the great public clock, to 
show the anti-slavery time of day. Just so far as our moral measures prepare 
the nation for emancipation, men will be elected and Legislatures petitioned 
for this purpose; and when the people are but once ready to vole for such 
men as will go for emancipation, and to instruct them accordingly, the work 
will be done, and not before. 

It is not intended to organize a third political party. That would be 
suicidal to our cause. Abolitionists are but a small minority, and such 
organization would only ensure defeat. But the other parties are so nearly 
equal, that they have a strong balance of political power in nearly all the 
free states. This power they are as much bound to reserve for the slave 
as they are bound to be abolitionists. Like all other power and blessings, 
it is bestowed on them by God, and they are accountable to Him for the 
manner in which it is applied. If, by carrying it to the polls, they can 
emancipate the slave, and they refuse to do so, by that refusal they just as 
much connive at slaveholding, as they would at arson by passing a house, 
seeing the incendiary apply the torch, and refusing to sound the alarm. 
Let them look well to this subject. Mr. Van Buren has sworn to uphold 
this system by his veto power. Let abolitionists tell his party and the 
Whigs, if they expect anti-slavery votes, they must put up candidates for 
the presidency who are not slaveholders nor the slaveholder's sworn 
minions, but high-minded men, known to be the friends of emancipation, 
and ready to do all in their power to promote it. Let them pursue the 
same course with regard to every representative for whom they are called 
upon to vote; and, in less than three years, the District of Columbia and 
Territory of Florida will be freed from this polluting institution. 

How else can they expect ever to complete their designs ? The day of 
miracles is past; ours are all representative governments, every member of 
which is statedly chosen by the people, knowing that he holds his office 
only at the pleasure and by the permission of the people, and tliat he must 
retire whenever they say the word. Such a man they have only to instruct 
or petition, to be heard and obliged. I know, indeed, they sometimes talk 



U4 SECOND DAY r.VENING SESSION. 

big about not being boiiiid by tliu will of their constituents, but some how 
or other they generally act as their constituents desire. And we care very 
little how they talk, if we can be sure of right action. 

Many timid people appear to be alarmed tliai the abolitionists avow 
themselves disposed to have any thing to do with political matters; not so 
much on account of the measures being faulty themselves, as the fear that 
in consequence of adopting them the abolitionists may be charged by their 
enemies with ambition. Our cause, they think, should be carried forward 
only by moral means. True, it should be, so far as to make men abolitionists. 
But suppose every body in this nation were abolitionists but twenty thou- 
sand slaveholders, and these were of such a character that you could no 
more persuade them to emancipate the victims of their avarice, lust, and 
cruelty, than you could the enemy of mankind to become a saint. What 
would you do ? The hammer of divine truth would rebound from their 
hearts like that of a blacksmith from his anvil. I could easily manage 
them OR my plan. Let abolitionists be elected representatives in all 
the Southern liCgislatures, and they would purge their land of slavery as 
quickly and ellectually, as did Hercules the Augean stable. But without 
this, 1 do not know how you could liberate the victims of their wickedness. 

In the Capitol of our nation, a few men hold about six thousand more in 
the condition of beasts — and that little spot is the slave-mart of the whole 
South. Some of these men you may persuade to emancipate their slaves. 
How will you emanci|)atc the remainder ? Congress can do the work any 
day they choose ; and they will choose to do it, when they know they cannot 
hold their seats on any other condition ; and this fact they can easily be 
taught by the ballot-box and petitions. But without these measures on the 
part of abolitionists, it is in vain to expect any such result. 

Sir, we have had a little experiment on the tendency of these measures in 
Massachusetts. Two years ago last winter, the Southern states sent ou 
their edicts to our Legislature, demanding the enactment of penal laws to 
gag us on tiie subject of slavery, and prevent the organization of anti-slavery 
societies. Our governor, in his message, intimated, that we were liable to 
be indicted at common law as disturbers of the peace. A committee was 
appointed by the Legislature to consider and report on the subject, who, 
out of courtesy, permitted the abolitionists, at their own earnest desire, to 
come forward and show cause — if any there was — why they should not be 
condemned ; but finally did not permit them to speak, because some of 
them were not sufliciently suppliant to square with the chairman's notion of 
anti-slavery propriety. After giving the subject that profound attention 
which its importance demanded, he made his best bow to the slaveholder, 
and delivered the abolitionists over to the sovereign mob. His report and 
resolutions were, however, never taken up nor acted upon. 'I'he old far- 
seeing politicians knew too much of the spirit of Massachusetts to burn 
their lingers in a lire kindled and fed by slaveholders. 'I'hey were aware 
that, how little soever of anti-slavery, or how much of hatred to abolitionists, 
there might be among the people, there was too much self-respect to bow 
the knee *• to the dark spiiit of slavery," and they very prudently let the 
report lie on the table, where it '• .v/i7/ lieth." 

The slaveholders, disappointed and chagrined at the result of their com- 
mands, did not repeat them the following year, and the citizens concluded to 
try thfir hand at tfie game, 'i'hey circulated petitions, signed, and sent 
them in with many thousand signatures. A committee was now appointed 
to consider and report upon them, luit with the design, as 1 was assured, of 
reporting that it would be inexpedient to legislate on the subject. But peti- 
tion and the ballot-box are powerful arpumenls. and generally go further to 



SPEECH or ALANSO^' ST. CLAIR. 95 

convince politicians, than the ablest made speeches or written communica- 
tions ; and before the committee were ready to report, the former had accu- 
mulated in such numbers upon their hands, they saw it would not answer 
to adopt quite so summary a course, — the subject matter of the petition 
began to look much less objectionable — even to wear the appearance of rea- 
son. The abolitionists did not now have to crave permission to come for- 
ward and show cause why they ought not to be condemned ; but a day was 
fixed by the committee, and they were notified, and invited to come and 
speak to the questions embraced in the petitions. They came — the com- 
mittee adjourned day after day, and nearly all the Legislature sat wilh them, 
or in the same hall, gave them a most patient, candid, and manly hearing ; 
petitions continued to thicken upon them, till they became snisfied there 
would be no risk in taking a manly stand against slavery, and. instead of re- 
porting that it was inexpedient to legislate on the subject, tliey offered a 
noble string of resolutions, which astonished the friends of them no less 
than the enemies. When they came into the House for action, the issue 
made up between the two political parties was, which should go strongest 
against slavery — and they passed by an almost unanimous vote. When 
sent to the Senate for concurrence, the same strife arose there, and that body 
not only adopted the ones passed by the House, but hitched on three more 
of a much stronger and more decided character. Owing to the alarm raised 
by the pro-slavery presses, which had formerly set the mobs upon the 
abolitionists — the House was frightened from concurring with those added 
by the Senate. The people not only sustained them, but on the follow- 
ing year, to a very wide extent, proposed questions to the candidates for 
their suffrage. When the Legislature convened they sent in ii still larger 
number of petitions than formerly, and obtained every thing they asked for 
but one word, and that was immediate, in the resolution demanding the abo- 
lition of slavery. 

Such have been the results of our measures in Massachusetts ; and such 
will be their result in Congress, and in every state in this nation when ap- 
plied with the same efficiency. Do you discover in them any imprudence, 
forocity, or anti-christianity ? Are they not well calculated to produce the 
end at which we aim ? Is it possible to carry our principles into practice 
without them? If then the opponent be as much an abolitionist and opposed 
to slavery as you, let him show his principles by his practice, remembering 
that the tree is known by its fruits. 



96 THIRD PAY MURMNG SLS8IUN. 



THIRD DAY— MORNING SESSION. 



This niornin<T was devoted to discussion, as announced on the morning 
of the preceding day. 'I'he suhject was the broad one of Slavery and its 
Remedy, and as an evidence of the deep interest which it awakened, the 
Hall was crowded earlier and with even a larger audience than at the former 
meetings. The speakers were Alvan Stewart, Edward C. Prilchett, Elder 
Frederick Plummer, William II. Burleigh, and Alanson St. Clair. Only 
two of them, however, have been able to furnish us wiili a sketch of their 
remarks. Previous to the discussion, the following letter from Walter 
Forward, of Pittsburgh, was read, and also the letter from Dr. Sleigh, pub- 
lished on page 73.' 

PiTTSBiRGH, May 10, 1838. 
Respected Friends, — I find it impossible to be with you at the Pennsyl- 
vania Hall on Tuesday next — a circumstance which I very much regret. It 
would have afforded me the highest gratification to comply with your wishes, 
had it been practicable so to do. The right of free discussion, and the right 
of petitioning those who may be in atiihorily for the redress of grievances, 
are among the most sacred of all rights, and any attempt to cripple or 
abridge them must be met by a determined and indignant resistance. How- 
ever partial I may be to the scheme of Colonization, I am none the less in- 
flexible in the resolution, never to submit to any attempt, under whatever 
plausible pretext, to subdue the spirit of free discussion, or to render the 
servants of the people inaccessible to their complaints. 

I am with much respect, your friend, 

Walter Forward. 
Messrs. SjudulI Wibb, and \\m. II. ScoU. — Committee. 



S 1' E ECU V K. C. P R I T C 1 1 E T T. 

E. C Pritchett said, that the subject of discussion was certainly wide 
enough — Slavery, Liberty, Colonization, Abolition ; on each head, so much 
might be said, that it was ditficult to select merely what might serve for imme- 
diate use. He would proceed, however, at hap-hazard, to utter something on 
each point, not by way of instruction, but in the hope of eliciting some of that 
sympathy which at once refreshes and .strengthens the utterer and the hearer 
of free tliought. It was needless to say any thing about freedom, after 

• It niav not he im|iinjxT liirc to state tliat the ronrM was n|)pi-opriatc<l to the use of thr 
^Manngrri, l\iv Orntort, auti strangfrs from a distance ir.tttrd wyirm it hv llif .MBtiap^-i-s; all 
the i-p»t of the saloon was fii-cly givrn no to the public, to occupy in such wnv as th<-_v might 
think proper, witlioiit anv (hifction as to the nianni-r in whicli the audience slioulc) arrange thcin- 
selvi-s. Kiiim a mistaken motixe, however, and before ttie Maiwprs entcivd thi- Hall, tlirr* 
colored men ucre invited, by a (wi-son from the country who was not even a stnekholder, to take 
their wats on the forum- One ftf tlu-»e ubs well knou n to us as an intelligrnf, worthy man ; 
the other l«owere strangers. .Ml three were n-<jue&ied to leave thefor\)m,as they «eif neither 
Managers, Orators, nor invitetl by the Managers, and we could not vary our rrgtdations in their 
favor, especially while a ntimberof our stockholders were then standing below unable to pitjcure 
seats. The same course wwild have liecn pursued had lliey been white men. 



SPEECH OF E. C. I'RITCUETT. 97 

what had been proclaimed by liim who so appropriately commenced the 
dedication of this Temple of Free Discussion and Pennsylvania Principles, 
by an oration on Liberty. Most splendid was that eiilogium, or rather that 
exposition of liberty — and the unadorned exposition of her character is her 
own best praise ; for " of all things that have beauty, liberty is most comely 
to man," as says Milton, and as the Most High taught the apostle to believe 
when he announced, as the chosen type of Jesus' Religion, Liberty, " the 
glorious Liberty of the sons of God." But, sir, I was disappointed, when 
the orator, after so skilful an exhibition of the blessings of Liberty, said he 
might hesitate to turn over his hand, to secure his freedom immediately to 
the slave, for fear of tlie blessing being an injury to the recipient. Sir, I 
am so fully convinced of the truth of the former part of the honorable gen- 
tleman's oration, that I should, or ought to be willing, for the attainment of 
so blessed a consummation, to turn over my hand, though, as a penalty for 
the deed, my arm should forthwith be burnt to the shoulder-socket. 

As dearly as I love liberty, impartial liberty, for others as for myself, so cor- 
dially do I hate slavery — and is such hatred, perfect, determined, deadly hate, 
unchristian? No, — and the pulses of this audience throb the echo " no !" 
For I am not speaking to fools — and the Scriptures announce as the climac- 
teric folly of the fool, that "he abhorrelh not evil." And is not slavery, to 
quote its self-contradicting apologist, Rev. President Fisk, " evil, evil only, 
and evil continually?" It is the general contradiction of all truth and right 
and love. It scorns the maxims of political economy, runs counter to every 
fact and doctrine of ethics or intellectual philosophy, works havoc with 
every arrangement of social order and charity, spurns the commandments 
which were uttered amid the thunders of Sinai, rushes madly on the thick 
bosses of Jehovah's buckler, belies prophecy, and gnashes its teeth at the 
promises of the gospel. From the uttermost vastness of infinity to the most 
trivial truisms of every day life, it is ever more a wrong and a lie. While its 
portentous shadow blackens eternity with gloom, the common rules of 
grammar cry out against it. Every child, who cons his Murray or Gould 
at school, has learnt that a personal and compound personal pronoun mui't 
agree in person — that good grammar requires me to say " I myself" and 
" you yourself" — but slavery is an interminably reiterated fracture of 
Priscian's head. Its first principle is, that the slave shall not say " I myself," 
but " I yourself, massa." If we may parody the old song, 

" Wlien ilka inon sliall Iiae Iiis aiii, 
Tliu slave sliall iiave himself ngn'm .'" 

Now, sir, I w-ould luin over my hand to have good grammar allowed 
throughout the Union. 

Here some of our friends, wliose regard for freedom is more curious than 
useful, may tell us that they are as much opposed to slaveiy as any one, — 
but the slaves should be sent home to Africa, the land of their fathers. In 
other words, they think the colored Americans should not be allowed to 
speak English grammatically outside of Africa. There are sundry objec- 
tions to this plan of colonization. In the first place, it is impossible — in 
twenty years the Colonization Society has transported but one-twentieth of 
one year''s increase of the slave population. This first objection, one would 
think, were enough — but, perchance, the friends of this plan may say that 
though " 'tis not in mortals to command success, they will do more, they 
will deserve it." Will they allow us to hint that they will no more deserve, 
than they will command success. Their most sweet voices are frequently 
heard proclaiming as a collateral good to be attained, second only in import- 

13 



98 THIRD PAY — MORMN<; SK.SSION. 

ance to the iiniinaginable blepsinir of having cveiy (hisky face out of sight, 
that the exile of colored Ameiiraiis will I'lirisiianize and civilize Africa I 
This they assert, and, at the same time, denonn<e the proposei! missionaries 
as the basest of the base, liiil, 1 forget, the voyage across the Atlantic will 
intervene between their dej)artiire and their holy work, — and what events 
oJ spiritnal change may not transpire — what savor of salt may not be im- 
parted to their souls under the sahibrious inlluence of the sea air! Hut, 
in sober sadness, l(!t us rcmend)er that jealousies and ofiences cannot but 
arise among the rival interests of the coh)ny and the adjoining tribes. 
These prevail to such an extent that there have been wars already ; and on 
founding a mission at Cape Palmas, lo conciliate the natives, ihey were 
assured that the mission was an entirely separate interest from the Colony. 
Let us remember that America was colonized and the natives are gone. 
Ah! we are answered, but here there was a difl'ercnce of color; in Liberia 
the colonists are colored like the natives. A niagniiicient idea! but, alas, 
it hatii not color enough. The Africans are black — the American colonists 
are black, brown, yellow, and some, by'r lady, considerably inclined to the 
pearl powder comphxion of their ancestral pale-faces. Consequently, if 
they are as great fools in Africa as some are here, and quarrel for color, the 
colonists will not ojdy be at war with the natives, but with one another. 
It is not difl'erence of color, but rivalry of interest, the unavoidable conflict 
between civilization, however partial, and midniahl barbarianism, that will 
ruin either the natives or the colony, or at bc^t nullify the inlluente of the 
settlers lor good to the neighboring tribes. 

•* But they should go back to their own country — to the land of their 
fathers," is repealed in every tone, from the bitterest bass of hate to the 
mincing accents of puling sentimenialism. The land of their fathers ! 
Where is that? or where is it not? England, Ireland, Scotland, France, 
Spain, and Germany, may, by this rule, advance claims to the same man; 
who, to comply, would be induced lo cry out with the witty blunderer of 
Erin, " Och ! that I were a bird and could be in tiro places at once.'' 'J'he 
plan is impracticable, the reasons for it absurd. Our colored friends need 
not fear its accomplishment; but, alas, they have great cause to fear the 
attempts of colonizaiionists. 'J'he inevitable effect of these operations is to 
increase the prejudice which treads them down already. It is impossible 
for one man seriously to endeavor to jirocure even the voluntary removal of 
another, w itiiout fostering in his own heart a strong prejudice against that 
person. If lie is anxious for his neighbor's departure, he will rather mar 
than contribute to his comfort so long as he remains. Is it not even so? 
Does not tlic conduct of colonizationists towards our colored friends evince 
the truth of this proposition ? Who shut the colored man out of school and 
college, — who pen him in seats the highest, if not most honoiablc, in the 
synagogue, — who tear down academies which are open to his reception, — who 
rob him of the elective franchise, as in this state, — who threaten the eman- 
cipated slave with renewed thraldom if he go not into exile, as in Maryland.' 
Colonizationists. Why do they all this? As a colonizationisl once re- 
marked to me, " the fewer privileges they have here the more willing will 
they be to go to Liberia." " Witli their own consent" mark ye! Why 
must they go to Liberia '. Because there is a natural repugnance between 
the rices, and if they remain in the same country they will amalgamate. 
Very odd, if true. That they will amalgamate under the influence of 
slavery, the Souili proves. That they will not where free, the Norlh proves, 
'i'he fact is, prejudice against color is not the dill'iculty. People tell us 
after all, that they "like the colored people very well, only they wish them 
to keej) their place/' Theie is the rub. What is their place.' A distant 



spFF.f'H oi' Ei.nrn F. PLirnlMER. 99 

one, not in location but in condilion. Our aristocratic ilamos will ride with 
a black man beside them in their carriages in Broadway and Chestnut street; 
but he must be a servant, a menial, not an equal, — a coachman, but not 
Charles Gardner or Robert Purvis. On board our steamboats there are 
ranks of colored waiters standing, protruding their black hands before our 
faces on the table, handing the plates and carving the joints. All this prox- 
imity is well so long as they stand. But now comes a respectable colored 
gentleman to take his seat among the miscellaneous assemblage at the cabin 
table. Lo! what a commotion ! The ladies, sweet souls, are in hysterics; 
the gentlemen are all in uproar, their very whiskers curling with wrath. 
But what is the matter? Listen to the united cry, "are we to have that 
nigger sit down with us ? The colored man may hint, " Gentlemen, I saw 
colored men in the cabin standing by your sides, and I supposed that I 
might s«7." They answer, " True, but they were waiters, they were in 
their place." " Well, gentlemen," returns the colored man, " if your 
objections are merely to color, it is strange that the color standing is allow- 
able, while it is a high misdemeanor for the color to sit ; 



' Strange that there should such rliffereiice be, 
'Twixt tweedledum ami tweedledee.' " 



" Shut up, you nigger," would probably be as conclusive and elegant an 
answer as our colonization exclusives could give. In fine, the colonization 
project is absurd, cruel, and impudent. What impudence to tell native 
Americans to clear out when they have distinctly said that they had no 
wish to go! The colored people are satisfied with the country — the aboli- 
tionists are willing for them to stay, — the colonizationists hate to live in the 
same land with tliem. Then let the colonizationists go to Liberia ; — they 
are a disaffected faction. 

How much better than all this vmmanly folly are the doctrines of the 
abolitionists, — to put all under the equal protection of law, to pay the 
laborer his worthy hire, to give all men an equal chance to use the powers 
which nature and Providence have given them, to undo the bands of wick- 
edness, to break every yoke, — ay, break short off, not rub down to a 
shaving by the gradual friction of a velvet glove, but to break every yoke 
and let the oppressed go free.. 



SPEECH OF ELDER F. PLUMMER. 

Mr. President : — What is the question before the Chair ? 

[He was informed that it was the relative claims of abolitionists and 
colonizationists, and was called forward to tlie platform. He continued : ] 

I do not know, sir, as I shall be entitled to address the Chair, as I am 
not a member of either the Abolition, or Colonization Societ3^ and hav« 
never taken any active part with either, although I profess to be anti-slavery 
in sentiment. 

[The Chair informed him that he was entitled to the floor, and told him to 
proceed. He then said :] 

Sir, it was not my expectation to take any part in this discussion. I 
came here expecting to hear the master-spirits on both sides of this very- 
important subject, so deeply interesting to our whole nation. But, sir, I 
have been disappointed, for, as far as I have heard, the discussion has been 
all on one side. Nor have those who have addressed the Chair, met my 



100 THIRD DAY MORNING SESSION. 

views as to the most important difficulties in this great national evil. They 
have said much relatiiii^ to the evils and horrors of slavery, which we do 
not question ; but the grand difficulty is, in my opinion, that it is legalized 
by our national compact, and the slave is claimed as legal property. It 
has been said that a man, although he has a right to his own house, has no 
right to set it on fire. Bui, sir, I do not see that this figure is appropriate. Has 
the slaveholder set his liouse on fire ? or has he gone beyond his legal right? 
I now ask, sir, for my own information, and call on aliolitionists, in behalf 
of this assembly and of the nation, to say how far we have a right, legally 
and morally, to deprive the slaveholder of what he has honestly inherited ? 
Shall we resort lo force ? Shall we put in jeopardy the slaveholder and 
the slave? Sir, let us pause and reflect whether some method cannot be 
suggested to liberate the slave, which will not injure the master. 

Let us remember that the evils of slavery are not only felt by the slave, 
but also by the master ; and in our sympathy for the slaves, do not let us 
forget the slaveholders, many of whom see and feel the horrors of slavery 
in traits in which we cannot. And let it never be forgotten that they are 
our brethren in a national point of view, and many of them are brethren in 
Christ. 

Sir, I go for free discussion on all topics, and for all judicious effi^rts to 
ameliorate and improve the condition of man in all respects. But, sir, shall 
we hazard the lil'e of the patient by the use of violeiit and destructive 
remedies ? We admire the improvements of the age, conveyance by steam- 
boats and locomotives, but God deliver us from reckless engineers. 

Sir, let us pause, solemnly pause, before we make any attempt which 
will jeopardise our union, the life of the master and that of the slave. I 
have looked, anxiously looked, for the speakers to show us the authority 
and method by which immediate emancipation can be effected. Let us 
always be sure that we are right, and then go ahead. 

True, one speaker has said that Congress have the right, and could, if 
they would, abolish slavery immediately; but he gave us no proof of the 
correctness of tlial statement. 

1 have often wished that some gigantic mind in Congress would propose 
measures by which the millions of surj)lus funds of the nation should, in- 
stead of being retained lor speculation and peculation, be devoted to the 
removal of slavery. 

Sir, I have regretted to see the spirit manifested in this place against 
colonizationists. I speak not from feelings of opposition to the abolitionists, 
or of partiality to the colonizationists. I have no party views on this 
great subject, and trust that we are all anti-slavery, feel for the oppressed, 
and rejoice at witnessing any lawful and proper elTorts for their relief. 

As professing Christians, who pretend to worship the same Cod, and to 
j(»urney to the same place, instead of uniting their energies to destroy their 
common foe, are, through a sectarian principle, using efforts to destroy one 
another; so, and I regret to say it, the colonizationists and abolitionists, 
instead of cooperating in the removal of the curse of slavery, are levelling 
iheir artillery against each other. 

Sir, let us not retard our object, by indulging in hostile feelings, nor in 
being loo sanguine in our own views, but in all benevolence pursue those 
measures in which the slaveholder and the whole nation can combine their 
will and ability to liberate the slave, and thus accomplish this very desirable 
object, and preserve the national union. 



SPEECH or ALVAN STEUART. 101 



THIRD DAY— AFTERNOON SESSION. 



This afternoon closed the Dedication of the Ilall. The subsequent 
meetings were not under the direction of the Board of Managers, but of the 
respective bodies to whom the Hall was rented, and for the manner in 
which each was conducted the body holding it is alone responsible. The 
congregation at this meeting, as at most of the preceding, was very large, 
between two and three thousand persons being present. The speaker was 
Alvan Stewart. 



SPEECH OF ALVAN STEWART, OF UTICA, N. Y. 

Amen, and amen, have been shouted from the throats of the unthinking 
millions of this earth, as the mandates of tyranny were proclaimed, as the 
edicts of inhumanity were published to the world ; while the lamentations 
of the oppressed have ascended night and day, as swift witnesses before the 
living God. These loud outcries of the injured against unavenged cruelty, 
have created epochs in the march of ages. At different periods of the 
world, there have been great issues formed between right and wrong, 
liberty and slavery, and on the determination of those issues have depended 
the stability or overthrow of empires, the rising and falling of nations. 

The pages of history, divine or profane, are the recorded evidence, argu- 
ments, and facts of each generation as they have been summoned to share 
in the creation and decision of those issues. When the issue has been 
correctly framed, crime, ashamed of her own frightful progeny, has called 
in falsehood, with her open mouth, to deceive the weak and the thought- 
less. 

Truth has been insulted and clamored down by tlie roar of numbers, 
who have interrupted her narrative or insulted her for tlie humility of her 
dress, or derided her for want of those high-born relations which, in the shape 
of impudence, interest, superstition, obstinacy, and love of power, have 
confederated to impeach her by sneering at the simplicity of her statements, 
by undervaluing the force of her arguments, while they have sung praises 
to the highest notes of Falsehood, sworn its deformity was beauty, and the 
harsh grindings in the prison-house of its oppression were the symphonies of 
sympathizing humanity; yea, more, they chanted praises of honor and glory 
to its deductions, and sung anthems to its sophistries, and cried amen to its 
conclusions. 

Honest error has often been a powerful antagonist of truth, and the only 
enemy whom truth assailed with compassion, and before whom truth fiad 
reason to tremble. For when sincerity, one of the darling attributes of 
truth itself, varnishes error, the judges of the issue sometimes mistake the 
armor of Achilles for the mighty form which it was made to protect. 

What is right or what is wrong? Where are the boundaries that sepa- 
rate ? 

How far human arrangements can change the abstract wrong into an 
expedient right, or the abstract right, if asserted, into a wrong, are mighty 



102 rilllll) PAY AFTRRNOON SESSION. 

questions, sellled in the early ages of the world, and thousands of limes 
since; but they now seem to come forward as fre.sh questions, demanding 
a decision with all the eagerness of zeal, with all that gives weight to high 
pretension, and with an impatience that forbids delay, from the magnitude 
of the interests involved ; so that our minds are compelled to become moral 
scales, to re-weigh and re-mark tlie mighty interests of humanity. 

But these questions have been weighed and considered by Him who 
cannot err, who is the author of right, the enemy of wrong. II is weights 
and measures are the enduring revelations of perfect wisdom. Tlie delivered 
opinions of the Eternal came down to this world, while men were contend- 
ing in the forum of pliilosoj)hical definitions, groping in the twilight of their 
understandings, and wasting their lives in linding a standard nf right in 
uninsiructed conscience. The pity of Ilim whose home is immensity, 
who is from everlasting to everlasting, who placed the shining worlds on 
their great path-ways, and gave them a momentum whicii Hying ages do 
not weaken, who knows each rood and inch between all the self-balanced 
globes as they rush round the skies in their untired race of ages, — of 
ihal God, who permits each one to travel its sublime and annual journey 
around the sun, was manifested in giving man a rule of action for lime, 
eternity, forever, " Love thy neighbor as thyself." Tlie law of gravita- 
tion of the moral universe! 

Every departure from tliis eternal landmark of duty, however small, has 
been the parent of crime and human agony. 

Tlic lirst issue ever made between right and wrong, the holy liberty of 
conscience, and the brutal violence of oppression, was between the two 
first of woman born. While the younger employed moral weapons to vin- 
dicate his sentiments, such as prayer and petition, and went to God for 
strength, wisdom, and direction; the elder used the modern club-logic; he 
preferred the bludgeon to manly debate ; to silence investigation waa better 
than to convince ; to murder his opponent, was easier than to answer his 
arguments. Cain was the founder of the brute-force system of logic, being 
the only method then, or evtr nincc known by its admirers, of answering 
iinatmwerablc arguments. 

This mode of reasoning, like the e.vtreme unction for the dying man, is 
not to be resorted to except in the distressing emergency of having no other 
mode by which to protect Folly from contempt. Obstinacy from rebuke, 
Ignorance from pity, and Crime from punishment. If Cain could have 
proved Abel in an error, then Abel might have died in his bed, at nine 
luindred years of age, or more. But because he could not, therefore he 
slew him. So we see the first witness called to establish truth died a 
martyr ; and the morning of the new world was hung in black by the de- 
pravity of mau. 

The next great issue made up for everlasting remembrance, was between 
Noah and his family of eight souls, against the world, — of right against 
wrong. What, could eiglit persons be the only ones right, and tlic whole 
world wrong beside I It seems so. Truth is not always found keeping 
comjiany with the multitude, leading armies, or seeking the shout of num- 
bers. 

But the last mountain top of the ante-diluvian world was covered with 
water, truth then being on l)oard the floating ark, in the eight witnesses, on 
that ocean without shore or island. These eight human beings were the 
connecting links between two worlds; and lest their narrative should be 
denied in the coming profane ages of philosophic scepticism, ti>e massive 
floors on which the ocean rolled, were torn up, and piled away on the lops 



iSPKKCll OF ALVAN .STKWARi. 103 

of mighty mountains, in monumental strata, on whose pages are written 
the history of a (h'owned world, — a record of God's judgment lithographed 
on tiie primal formations of the enduring rock ! 

But the most sublime and grand issue ever framed between guilty man 
and his Maker, on the trial of which such amazing consequences depended 

was, WHETHER MAN SHOULD BE THE PROPERTY OF MAN, OR THE SERVANT 

OF God ? — whether man sliould lose his charter in himself and become 
incorporated in another's self? — whether a man should cease to have use 
for his mind and his body, so that another might take that mind and body 
and appropiiate it to himself and extinguish all claim of the individual in 
and to himself? This could not be permitted without denying God's in- 
terest and claim in each being whom he had created for His own will and 
pleasure. Therefore, as God had made man, he had a right to his own 
workmanship ; and having conferred on man certain high powers, life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which happiness consists in obeying 
his Creator's laws, this being could not abandon or surrender these rights 
to another huihan being, nor could another human being assume them, — 
rights, which in their nature could neilher'be surrendered by one, or assumed 
by another, because of God's interest in man as his Maker. — God had a 
claim on those unsurrenderable and unassumable rights — a mortgage on 
Ihem which can never be extinguished in time or cancelled in Eternity. 

Egypt was the theatre of this momentous issue, in the event of which 
every question affecting human liberty was involved, considered and deter- 
mined. "Who were the parties ? Haughty Egypt in the plenitude of her 
power, with a population of twenty millions, the schoolmaster of the world, 
the granary of mankind, the home of civilization ; whose proud cities opened 
and shut their hundred gates ; whose imperishable structures of monumental 
marble must have equalled in expenditure the united energies of the gene- 
rations of the nineteenth century ; whose mountains for miles inward were 
penetrated and excavated with the silent palaces of the dead ; whose power 
brought from the cataracts of the Nile to the Delta, the Monolith temple of 
solid rock, — Egypt, with her acre-covering temples — with her artificial 
lakes, her giant sphinxes, her twenty pyramids, those piles of wonder 
where art seems to rival nature in her boldest work. And on the other hand 
two and a half millions of Hebrew slaves; a nation of tasked bondmen, 
brickmakers under their task-masters and drivers. 

Egypt was the oppressor ; two and a half millions of Hebrews were 
the oppressed slaves, and God the judge, avenger and deliverer. Never 
was there such a display of Almighty power, never since, the creation of 
this world, has the Arm of Omnipotence been more signally revealed than in 
this manifestation of His utter abhorrence of slavery, and His love of human 
liberty. He caused the mighty river of Egypt to run with blood from its 
upper cataracts to its seven mouths, and as the Mediterranean received the 
tribute of the Nile, it blushed at Pharaoh's insult to Jehovah, in presuming 
to hold man as a slave. The hail and lightning, the ice and fire leaped 
from their chambers in the clouds to the slave-insulted soil, to avenge the 
quarrel of the abused. The locusts forsook their sullen solitudes of whirl- 
ing sands and in dark armies came riding on the winds to consume 
the products of the spoiler's fields. The murrain smote the cattle of the 
task-master ; and on that last dreadful night uprose the dealh-wail along the 
reedy margin of the Nile, and from the heart of the mighty cities, as the 
Angel of Death passed silently and unseen from house to house and struck 
down two and a half millions of the first-born of Egypt. Pharaoh, in 
the pride of human glory, said to himself, " I will become the defender of 
Egypt's power against these slaves, my brickmakers, by whose unpaid 



1(11 XlllKU UA\ AUtKNOUX SESSION. 

labor I have reared those imperishable structures, which will stand to the 
last day ol" time, exciting astoiiishmeul and commanding admiration from 
generation to gi Miration; I will not let the people go." The Almighty 
taught him the folly and crime of his presumption. To doubt the Deity's 
hatred of slavery, is to deny the truth of this astonishing account. It is to 
deny the OKI and New Testament. It is to deny our own nature — the 
unwritten law of conscience. It is to deny and despise all the cries and 
pleadings of our humanity. It is to deny our nature and very existence. It 
is to say there is no sin, that one thing is as right as another, stealing is as 
honest as labor, lewdness is the same as modesty, cruelty as kindness, 
robbery as benevolence, pirary as a purchase. To deny the crime of slavery 
is to say there is no right, no wrong, no justice, no injustice. 

Behold the flying fugitives ! The Red sea in their front, mountains on their 
right and left, and the uncounted hosts of Egypt in their rear. See the poor 
fugitives and their little ones in the pass of the mountains ; overwhelmed 
with terror, they go to the banks of the sea, and it gathers its waters in 
walls — while the triumphant freedmen, with praises on their tongues, and 
in their hearts, turn round to behold the Almighty causing the Egyptian 
wheels to forsake their axletrces, and the wall of water to yield and cover 
up their task-masters forever ! 

A late traveller, of the last ten years, sent a pearl-diver down to examine 
the supposed path of the nation of fugitives, and discovered pieces of Egyp- 
tian armour and implements of war, attesting the truth of this highway in 
the deep, never travelled over but once. 

These fugitive slaves had a cloud by day and a pillar <jf fire by nigtit for 
their outstretched banner. 

" Ily (lay along tlic :istoiiislK-<l lands 

Tlic clouily (tillar ^lidtd slow, 
By nij^iil Araljia';. criiuson wiiils 

Iti-tui-iied the fuTV coliitr.ii's glow." 

They were fed with food direct from the Almighty's table for forty years 
in a land of emptiness and want, where the prowling hyena and gaunt wolf 
howled in the bitterness of hunger unappeased. The rock opened its flinty 
mouth, and sent its tooling waters after them, 'i'he Almighty, in scorn of 
human greatness, and to show himself no respecter of persons, made these 
despised, runaway slaves the honored recipients of the Law of Laws — ihe 
ten eternal orders of Gnd inscribed with His finsiers, and delivered to them, 
while the rocky heart of Sinai quaked and tnnibled with His thunders, and 
its summit shone with celestial brightness as the lightning blazed around 
its pinnacles, and, through the pauses of the stotm, the voice of the great 
trumpet waxed louder and louder! 

Thus these poor fugitives had the custodial care of the first Heaven-lent 
geography, which shows the path-way through which man must travel, in 
order to enter on the joys of that undiscovered country from which none 
return. 

To them was entrusted CJod's revelation, the li\iiig fountain from whose 
waters of truth all of the civilized nations of the earth have drawn the fun- 
damentals of jurisprudence. Yes, these fuffitive slaves were God's librarians, 
and had the holy keeping of His laws, which have been the great moral light 
of this world. 

Hut what was the treatinent tlicse oppressed and fleeing fugitives met 
with from the hands of the King of Edom, — the land of Idumea? 

Here we have an awful demonstration of God's detestation of a nation 
who could dare allcmpl to arrest or impede the progress of fleeing fugitive 



SPEECH OF ALVAN STEWART. 105 

slaves, who sought a passage through a neutral country to the land of 
freedom. For that crime the malediction of the Most High has brooded 
over the land of Idumea ! 

Oil ! what a solemn fulfilment of prophecy ! Look at Petra, the city of 
the Rock in the mountains — the wonderful capital of this Heaven-doomed 
land — this nest of one of the world's great empires, girded about with 
everlasting mountain barriers. Behold her theatres, temples, and catacombs, 
vieing with imperial Rome in the days of her Caesars, cut from her granite 
mountains, with rocky roofs one thousand feet in thickness culminating 
above. Behold her mighty palaces without mortar, without joints, chiselled 
out of primeval rock, — perfect after the long lapse of centuries, as when 
first opened ! 

Yet this ancient abode of polished life, which felt the movings of a mighty 
ambition, has, for twenty centuries, been abandoned of God and forsaken 
of man, only tenanted by the obscene bird and loathsome serpent — the sole 
inmates of the palaces of kings and lodgers in the chambers of departed 
greatness. No man abides in this lone land, no man says this is my home. 
A land once red with the blood of the grape, and thronged with populous 
life, it has become a sterile and majestic solitude, — borne down by the 
withering curse of God, for the crime of opposing the escape of the fugitive 
Hebrew slaves from the land of the spoiler. 

There stands, and will stand to the end of time, the witness, telling 
to each generation of the world as they flow down the long stream of 
ages, "here was once a crime committed by man against man, by a nation 
in prosperity against a nation of fugitive slaves flying in distress." The 
punishment was inflicted in the zenith of her glory, and she is the only 
country on the globe which has been depopulated from century to century, 
as an enduring testimonial of the Almighty's wrath. As the solitary tra- 
veller wanders over the ruins of Petra, he is alarmed as echo sends back 
her voice in answer to his footsteps from the lonely temple, the deserted 
palace, and silent catacombs ; astonished he lifts his eye, surrounded by 
ever-during walls of rock, and beholds the only living being, an eagle, in 
the regions of the blue sky, revolving in his noontide gyrations over the 
doomed City of the Mountains. 

The flight of the Hebrews from the house of bondage took place at a 
period when Egypt was the home of science, — the Gamaliel at whose feet 
the learned and inquiring of other nations sat. She was at the head of the 
families of the earth, and within her borders were locked up those disco- 
veries which have since astonished mankind. In the contest between 
Israel and Egypt, therefore, it was enlightened strength contending against 
ignorant weakness. There was too much power to decide the question by 
reason and argument, on the side of the Egyptians, and too much feebleness 
on the part of the Hebrews. But we are somewhat struck at the superior 
refinement of the haughty slaveholders of Egypt, compared with those of 
the United States. 

Pharaoh, as the representative of supreme power, tolerated Moses and 
Aaron with rights denied by an American Congress and Southern slave- 
holders, to wit, the rights of petition and free discussion. For this 
matter was discussed no less than seven or eight times in the palace of 
Egypt; and Pharaoh never denied the right of petition but once, and that 
was when he told Moses not to come before him again. But that was at the 
time when Moses had ceased to petition, as the business was lodged in the 
hands of the angel of death. 

The next great issue was the advent of our Redeemer. 

14 



lOG THIRD DAY — AFTERNOON SESSION. 

The issue was between religion and its counterfeit; between religion and 
liberty on one side, and idolatry and slavery on the other. 

The Kedeeiner, the poorest man in Judea, and yet the very God, took 
upon liimself the forni of a servant, — the most despised form of our common 
humanity. The Redeemer came to lift up large masses of mankind in the 
shape of the poor, the imprisoned, the enslaved, the miserable, the ignorant, 
and place them on the summit level of our conmion humanity, and vindicate 
their relationship to God. And in the course of three centuries after he 
preached his sermon on the Mount, during which time ten generations came 
and crossed the bridge of human life, the lr\ilhs of that sermon had grappled 
with principalities and powers, with prejudice, and idolatry, and slavery, 
which had grown sturdy by their hold on mankind for a thousand years, 
and had tilled the Roman world with cliiselled gods of men's device, while 
the iin|)aid slave groaned from tiic Appenines to the i)anks of the Euphrates, 
from the Scamander to the Tweed, from the mountains of Mauritania to 
the dark-rolling Danube. At the end of three hundred years from the 
blessed Saviour's humanity, his holy principles had banished idolatry and 
slavery from the wide spread Roman world, with its one hundred and 
twenty millions of inhabitants. 

But, oh I how often did the faggot burn, — did the martyr's blood tlow, 
in defending the liberty of conscience and of person, before the world 
assented to these principles ! 

The next great issue to which the mind of Europe was summoned was 
the Reformation of the fourteenth century. Slavery and idolatry had come 
back to this world again. 'J'he contest again was between truth and false- 
hood. 

The men of that generation made brick without straw ; their substance 
was eaten out by ecclesiastical imposition; a midnight of despotism l)r()oded 
over the faculties of the moral world. Slaves in a stale of serfism or 
villanage, were groaning beneath the military pomp of the feudal system. 

The human mind rose up from the sleep of a thousand years, and shook 
from itself the accumidated errors of ages, and broke those bandages in 
which the independence of the mind and body had been swathed. 

From great issues and mighty trials like these, have been drawn all the 
truth, the religion, and liberty which have blessed this world. 

IJut hypocrisy, with ruin and darkness rioting in its heart, entered the 
portals of the church, and put on the cast-off livery worn by ruined angels, 
when their guilty ambition expelled them from the realms of light ; and, pro- 
fessing veneration for Cod's eternal witnesses, the Old and New Testaments, 
these impostors have declared, that these witnesses spake that which they 
did not, — that these witnesses declared Slavery was an institution of Heaven, 
sanctioned by the God of justice and mercy! 

These baneful perversions of Divine truth have been employed for the 
most malignant purposes, so that Southern professors of relijjion and pro- 
fessed ministers of Ghrist pretend to get their authority to rob the slave of 
himself, his mind, his body, his wife, and children, from the Bible!! 

North America, in her political !)ehavior is a contradiction in terms. She 
was the land of refuge for the oppressed. Corrupt Europe, of the seven- 
teenth century, drove from her bosom her most pious, noble, and indepen- 
dent sons, to search for lil)erty of conscience in the howling wilderness of 
the Occidental world. The Puritan of New England, the C'atholic of 
Maryland, the Episcopalian of Virginia, and the Friends of Pennsylvania, 
claimed, like the Ilebtews in Eirypt, the right of making the wilderness 
their temple to worship God. Yes, they leaped the barriers of the ocean's 
solitudes, and nestled down amongst ibe wild aborigines to enjoy the liber- 



SPEECH OF ALVAN STEAVART. 107 

ties of body and rhind, and escape oppression. Oh, liorrid solecism ! that 
such a land should now become the grand rendezvous of slaves, outnumber- 
ing those of any other country in the civilized world. 

The year 1776 astonished the world with a new issue, which reached 
up and down and all around the circle of humanity. This issue was 
tendered to the oppressors of mankind, throughout the world, by the 
patriotic Congress of the United Stales, who threw in the teeth of tyrants, 
feudalists, monarchists, the inheritors of power, the primogeniturists, the 
kidnappers, slaveholders, man-despisers, and man-haters, these words of 
mighty import : " Jill men are created equal, and are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights, among ivhich are life, liberty^ 
and the pursuit of happiness ;'''' and to vindicate the truth of this proposi- 
tion, the people of these United States poured out their blood like water 
for seven years. 

Philosophers, philanthropists, politicians, and jurists, had written tomes 
and folios of metaphysical musings and abstractions, to settle the starting 
point of man's existence, — the rights of one as compared with those of another 
in coming into the compact of civil society. 

But in going up to a remote antiquity, to learn what principles governed 
those lawgivers who laid the foundations of civil polity for those old nations 
in Europe, fable occupies the place of veritable history, and history 
teems with its thousand falsehoods, and bewilders the mind without 
instructing the judgment, and leaves the inquirer at the horizon's distance 
from certainty, if not from truth. 

The feudal system, the doctrine of primogeniture, — that executive, 
legislative and judicial powers, were matters of inheritance, — may be con- 
sidered the elementary doctrine of Europe. 

That men are born equal, is a great moral proposition, coming from 
God, and as old as man, and grows out of His own eternal benevolence, by 
which it is said that God is no respecter of persons. 

The doctrine of primogeniture is that by which the oldest child, being 
male, is born to the inheritance of the whole landed estate of a father or re- 
lative, and the other children of no part ; by which the oldest child of a king, 
or prince, or duke, earl, or noble, however weak, is born to the inheritance 
of executive, legislative, and judicial power, while the son of the peasant, 
however cultivated by learning, or howevei; superior by force of an exalted 
genius is only born to obey. 

Many of the members of the House of Lords, in England, inherit their 
seat to legislate for their countrymen, by the same law by which they hold 
their fathers' estates. They inherit both. They inherit judicial power, 
wise or foolish, as a court of dernier resort, to reverse the decisions of the 
chancellor and twelve judges of England, on a statute which these members 
of the House of Lords inherited power to make. In England, nothing but 
idiocy, insanity, or crime, can deprive some four or five hundred English- 
men from being law-makers and judges in the last resort; and that, too, 
without the express consent of a living man in England manifested in their 
favor, but barely by inheritance. 

The feudal system, primogeniture, and that certain persons inherited the 
executive, judiciary, and legislative powers of their country, and also 
inherited the allegiance and obedience of the nation, have been the fundamental 
laws of most European countries from the dovvnfal of the Roman Empire to 
this hour. 

Look at England and her colonies of fifty millions of inhabitants, and 
her East India possessions of one hundred millions more, making one 
hundred and fifty millions of human beings, or one-fifth of the human race, 



108 THIRD DAY AFTERNOON SESSION. 

at the head of which, by force of the above doctrine, as Queen, is a young 
boarding-school, piano-j)laying girl, eighteen years of age, with power to 
declare war and deluge the world in blood, make peace, veto the united 
Legislation of Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, to direct fleets 
and lead armies. 

'I'he doctrine of this world on the 3d of July, 1776, was, that some 
persons are created superior to others, inheriting the right .to make, judge 
of, and execute laws, which the rest are created to obey. 

But before the sun went down on the 4th of July, 1776, the mighty moral 
discovery was proclaimed from this very city, that " all men are created 
equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among 
which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these 
rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power 
from the consent of the governed." 

Such men as a Milton, a Sydney, and a Russell, in their musings upon 
the rights of humanity, had caught glimpses of this truth — shadowy and 
undefined like the vision which passed before the face of Eliphaz the Te- 
manite, — a spirit passed before them, " but the form thereof was not 
discerned." They had prophet revelations of the dawning of a better 
day. Looking down the vast future, they beheld on those plains in the 
land of the setting sun, beyond the wilderness of waters, where Hesperus 
trembles on the borders of the circling heavens, man in full possession of 
the great charter of his rights. 

This mighty discovery is but a pkfinition of man, as considered in 
relation to every other man. Hut no great politician or philosopher in the 
European world dared make this definition known, because it would have 
been high treason against the fundamental laws of European society. This 
definition would have brought to the block the best man in Europe, as the 
reward of iiis temerity. 

'I'he three great truths, or political discoveries, are — 1st. Equality at 
birth. 2d. The universal endowment of the right to life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness, 3d. 'I'liat all governments should be made to secure 
these high interests. Therefore, all governments must be made by those 
whose interests they are intended to secure. Well might the politicians, 
philosophers, and philanthropistsi, believe the philosopher's stone had at 
last been discovered ; and that the signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence had been permitted to ascend, like Moses, into the Mount of God, to 
discover, from a loftier altitude, the relations of man to man. (iood men 
cried out in ecstacy, from every corner of the earth where the human mind 
was not so degraded as to have/orgo//e/i the loftiness of its lineage. 

The new and joyful era hail arrived, in which the governed, to protect 
his liberty, his life, and pursuit of happiness, made and created the governor. 
This is a RKPrnMCAN form of oovernmf.nt. The purchase money of 
this truth was paid in blood, which flowed from the free hearts of our 
fathers. Oh, costly delinition of human liberty ! The assertion of this great 
definition of man, in his social state, is, by force of its terms, the abolition 
of all slavery, wherever the deflnition is honored or respected. 

Hut with UH this deflnition «)f Human Highls is, practically, but an 
empty abstraction, instead of being the very life of our republicanism ? 

'I'o tolerate slavery a single year in one of these states, after this Decla- 
ration of Independence, was a base hypocrisy, a violation of our engagements 
to mankind, and to God. ".hid for (fir tmpjwrt of (fiis Drrlaralion," 
said they, " with a Arm reliance (»n the protection of Divine Hrovidence, 
we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor." 



SPEECH OF ALVAN STEWART. 109 

This awful and solemn pi'omise, made in behalf of liberty, to all persons 
in this land, in the presence of mankind and the great Jehovah, in that awful 
moment of a nation's agony and peril, stands unredeemed, uncancelled, 
and unsatisfied; sixty-one years and three hundred and lifteen days have 
gone to join the years and days beyond the flood; every year, every month, 
yea, every day and hour, have gone to the Judge of all the earth, clamoring, 
long and loud, for the execution of this voiv. 

The issue of 1776 was not alone between the governments of the old 
world, and their children, the colonies of the new. This issue, tendered 
by the framers of the Declaration of 1776, was done not only for the 
United States ; but as the representatives of human nature oppressed, their 
document was the property of both Americas, and of the New World. 
Liberty for all is demanded; labor in all is honorable; tyranny is every where 
odious; kidnapping and stealing men and their labor is the essence of sin 
and meanness. Look at the products of their issue. Behold thirteen of the 
United States free from slavery ! 

Six empires on this continent have pronounced that the color of a man's 
skin and his liberty have no relation to each other, and that all men are 
created equal and free, to wit, — Mexico, New Granada, Central America, 
Venezuela, Chili, and Peru. These blood-bought countries have started 
the great journey of liberty and independence, with slavery abolished 
throughout their great domains. In fact, the continent is an abolition con- 
tinent; and Catholic countries, in the march of Liberty, have gone beyond 
this land of boasting Protestantism. 

Under the glorious issue, framed by the Fathers of Independence, that all 
men are created equal, the bondmen of Massachusetts, of Connecticut, of 
New York, of Pennsylvania, and of New Jersey, have thrown down their 
broken yokes, as the trophies of the great definition, and the shout of Freedom 
which burst forth and rolled in thunders through the unmeasured prairies of 
the West, swept over the Rocky Mountains, and Mexico caught the joyful 
sound, and declared all men for ever free in the land of Montezuma, 

The white, the black, the red, joined in the chorus: all men are created 
EQUAL. Yes, five empires more heard the thrilling sounds, and from the 
lonely mine-digger of the cavern-worlds beneath the bed of the Pacific, to 
the solitary shepherd on the snow-clad Cordilleras, and from the Mexican 
Gulf to the ever-blazing fires of the Andes, as the eternal truth went up the 
mountains and rolled over the pampas solitudes of the South, and flowed 
down the mighty rivers, all heard tlie words of resurrection and of life, and 
from the trance of ages stood up in the primeval sovereignty of men ! 

St. Domingo heard that man v/as born free and created equal, and, at the 
end of three centuries of slavery, stood erect, — a nation of freemen, manu- 
factured out of goods and chattels. England, in the days of George the 
Third, paid four hundred millions of dollars to destroy our definition of man, 
and in the reign of William the Fourth the same nation, fifty-seven years 
after, paid one hundred millions of dollars to purchase it for eight hundred 
thousand slaves in their West Indies. Those new lexicographers who 
overturned the governments of the new world by the power of a definition, 
and cut the bands of trans-atlantic connection, and turned the world upside 
down, and unlocked suff'ering humanity and delivered it from its prison- 
house, if they could be summoned from the long dreamless sleep of their 
graves, would be overcome with astonishment to find thirteen states of this 
republic still clinging to slavery with a death-grasp ; and that their declara- 
tion, which had di-iven slavery from all other parts of the continent, was 
unable to deliver two and a half millions of the most wretched slaves which 
the sun ever shone upon. These fathers, summoned from their graves. 



no THIRP PAY AlTlk.NOON <>:^?ION. 

might well inquire what is ihe cost of this refusal by Southern men to ac- 
knowledLre our deiinition of man. 

And what would be the answer ? The derision and collei-ted scorn of an 
insulted world — the loss of liberty of speech, and the freedom of the press, 
and ()| conscience — too cowardly to discuss slavery, and afraid of the truth, 
a loss of character for bravery and moral courage — loss of the benefit of the 
personal industry of the whites, that being considered dishonorable ; while 
to rob, steal, commit adultery, and covet, are virtues — the South by slavery, 
making llicir wives, tlie while women, miserable — the slave losing the bene- 
fit of ihe IJilile — the whites, by amaliramation wiih their slaves, obtaining the 
privilege of selling their own children, brothers and sisters of selling their 
own brothers and sisters — the fear of assassination and insurrection — large 
sections of exhaustetl slave-lands, wiilj a curse of perpetual sterility upon 
them — a universal brulifying of the colored man's mind — universal concu- 
binage — reducing two and a half millions of equals to beasts and chattels — 
ferocity, murder, duelling, called " chivalry" — the countless murders com- 
mitted by slavery during the lapse of two hundred years, yet unatoned for 
and unavenged — tlie while masters living under the standing charge that all 
their wealth, their daily gains, the livings and subsistence of Congress men, 
judges, governors, church-members, men and women, are made up and ob- 
tained by daily robberies and larcenies, stamped with the infinite meanness 
of intlicling assaults and batteries on the slaves, their natural equals, to com- 
pel them to give their masters an opportunity of stealing the fruits of another's 
industry — thirteen stales living by petit larcenies. The acme of human glory, 
in relation to man's elevation, and the lowest depth of his guilty debasement, 
manifested in the same country! 

In the old world men inherited, as property, the three great departments 
of power, to wit the Legislative, Judicial and Executive ; while in the slave 
states of the new world two hundred and llfty thousand irresponsible des- 
pots inherit and own, not only all the political power of two million five 
hundred thousand slaves, but inherit and own their bodies — the fearful and 
wonderful workmanship of CJod — immortal challels, celestial merchandise. 

The slnveholtler's practice tells God He made an undue share of immortal 
mind, and it is his (the slaveholder's) business to rc-adjusl His highest work, 
by increasing the brule creation, in diminishing the immortal. The slave- 
holder, therefore, un-inans, ajul reduces to tfiini^.s, beings a liiile lower than 
angels. The same slaveholder would have laid his wicked hands on angels, 
and impressed them into his service, if he could. 

IJehold thirteen states of the American Kepublic, legislating for the divi- 
sion of stolen goods, enacting that stealing is a patriarchal institution, and 
adultery sanctioned by the Bible — passing the most formidable laws against 
any person who shall call them stealers of men, of women and of children. 
'JMie brute force system surrounds and protects their awful larcenies upon 

JIUIllkuitl. 

I will present another rather unamialile view of slavery. 

A South Carolina .•^lavelKilder has a son by his slave, in his own likeness. 
'I'hat son must be deprived of the liible. The father employs the brutal 
lash ujion his son's body, to make him work hardt-r and earn more, that his 
f.tlher may steal those earninijs, and with them send a missionary across 
the diameter of the globe, to tell the heathen, if they do not repent, they 
will be lost. We will suppose a heathen in India repeuls, and out of grati- 
tude becomes a missionary himself to South Carolina to warn the people of 
iheir sins, heathenism and slavery. Hut oh ! the Indian missionary would 
be murdered, by liynch Law, for teaching the slave and master lie same 



SPEECH OF ALVAN STEWART. HI 

doctrines, on their own soil, which the master at the expense of making his 
son a slave and a heathen at home, scourged and imbruted, had obtained 
means, to send to this very heathen in the old world. What would East 
India Christians lliink of South Carolina etliics, morality, or religion ? 

But the adversaries of the great truth of man's equality at birth, have made 
new discoveries in behalf of falsehood and against liberty, viz., that slavery 
is too powerful and sensitive to be assailed with the tongue or the pen of 
free discussion. There are two divisions of the no-tongue, no-pen, no-dis- 
cussion men. One party admits slavery an evil, but its constitutional en- 
trenchments are so deep and wide, and it is so awfully dangerous to speak 
or write against the institution of slavery, that they are willing to make an 
assignment of the liberty of speech, the right of petition, the power of the 
pen, the liberty of conscience, to the slaveholders, as a standing tribute, to 
be paid by the men of the North division of the confederacy, for the privi- 
lege of not being made field slaves for the present ; for the privilege of 
looking on the same sun at the same time; of beholding the same waxing 
and waning moon ; although the fruit of this dreadful assignment has been 
wet with the blood of ten thousand annual murders, or twenty-seven daily 
ones, for each of the sixty years gone by, from malignant passion, by vio- 
lence and over-working and under-feeding. 

The other division contends it is a Bible institution, a State institution, 
and a corner stone of the Federal Union ; and further, that no man, woman or 
child, shall deny these propositions, but with the penalty of death, with or 
without law. 

This last division of men are the head men and master builders in the 
Bastile of slavery, while those of the first division are the mere hod-car- 
riers OF slavery, — the docile creatures at the North, who are willing to 
forego their humanity, their intellectual liberty in themselves ; and if they, 
as Northern men, are willing to forego so much, they can see no reason 
why the slaves, for the benefit of our blessed Union, ought not, as good re- 
publicans, to be willing to forego life, liberty, wife, children, and endure 
stripes, hunger, nakedness, ignominy, and reproach, from generation to gene- 
ration. Ay, these good patriots of the North can see no reason, why 
two million five hundred thousand slaves ought not to be content to be stript 
of all things, and lashed over every mile of the journey of life, to furnish 
the cement, made of sweat, tears, and blood, which binds the North and 
South together ? 

To combat such weather-beaten heresies and time-honored presumptions 
of slavery, and rebuke the craven spirit of its apologists, is the reason we 
have come together to dedicate this temple to Liberty. In the thirty- 
eighth year of the nineteenth century, we find it necessary in America, the 
home of the oppressed, in both senses of the word, to erect a temple of Free 
Discusssion, where the philanthropists of this generation may meet for high 
and holy communion with the God of Freedom, and beseech His aid in the 
emancipation of the slave ! 

Yes, in a land on whose door-posts and gates liberty is inscribed, and 
among a people in whose mouths liberty and equality find so permanent an 
abode — in such a land this edifice is necessary, in order to welcome hu- 
manity and liberty to a home they maij call their oiim. What will the 
slaveholder think as he passes this temple built for the deliverance of his 
despised slaves, for whom he never built a school house, nor scarce a 
church ? 

What an array of accusations shall throng the slaveholder's guilty me- 
mory as he looks upon this building, every brick of which is a bitter re- 
proach to him ? The mortar of the wall cries like an unappeased gliost 



Il'-i THIRD DAY — AFTERNOON SESSION. 

against liiin. The foundaiion stones shall tell him they are softer than his 
heart. 

'I'o this spot the pilgrims of humanity will come to worship God, in the 
land of the setting sun. 

As 1 entered your city, thought I, liere is the peculiar home of the slave ; 
here are the descendants of Penn, the place where all men were declared to 
be born equal. IMcthought, in a sort of reverie, I saw a band of fugitive slaves 
Hying from Maryland, wet with the swimming of rivers, faint with hunger; 
iheir tattered clothing told me tiiey were the unpaid laborers of the wretched 
South. They sought the place where they might tell the history of their 
wrongs. Hut the doors of the noble Itoman Catholic pile of architectural 
grandeur were shut ag-iinst them ; they went to the Methodists' chapel, be- 
cause their discipline was written by John Wesley, who loved the slave; 
but they were answered " our Bishops cannot listen to the tales of slaves ; 
it is a political question, we cannot unite church and state ;" — to the Bap- 
tists, but they could not think of giving ollence to their Georgia brethren ; 
to the Episcopalians, but the man in canonicals said, " it was his pleasure 
and his pride to say, his church had never been alfected by ullraism;" — 
they turned to the Presbyterians, who would have opened their church, as 
they said, " but from fear of disobliging a majority of the next General As- 
sembly, who might want their house in which to denounce the abolitionists ;" 
but directed them to the Quakers, who ha(l always been their friends, and 
to their sympathies they commended them. To the Friends they bent their 
faltering and wretched steps — but were told " they had always been their 
friends, and neither ate nor wore the slave's productions, but hoped no 
stronger test would be required of them, for as to opening their meeting 
hoiises to listen to the story of their wrongs, they did not feel free to do it." 

Oh, miserable fugitives ! — They have run the round of sectarian church- 
huninnity ; none have bidden tlicm welcome. " Let us" they said, " goto 
the Hall of Independence, and see if the ghosts of Hancock, and Hush, and 
Franklin still hover there ?" But the door of that old Hall was barred and 
bolted by a generation tvho knew not Joseph. They were told •' it will 
not do to talk about your scourged backs, broken hearts, unpaid labor, severed 
families, ravished wives, and murdered sons ; that is a part of the compact ; 
and if we of the North should listen to you, the two hundred and fifty 
thousand slaveholders would knock this Union into fragments, so there 
would not be enough left of our common country to make a school district. 
Gel you gone, there is no place for you here." 

They have turned aw;iy in despair. But what sudden change of joy is 
passing over their sad countenances ? They have heard of this Hall — this 
Temple of Liberty built for the very purpose of giving a hearing to the 
wrongs of the alllicted, those who liave none to help, those about to perish ! 
And here we are, thank (iod ! this day, in the first temple ever erected to 
the memory and redress of the slave's wrongs, since this world began !— 
This is a new place under the sun. It is pity's home, the abode of en- 
lightened humanity. 

This is a temple dedicated to the insulted and outraged of our land. 
This will be their future court and senate house, where their hither- 
to untold wrongs shall come up in holy remembrance before (iod, 
while the means for their deliverance shall be considered in the ample 
range of free discussion, unfettered by priest, deacon, people, or trustees. 
i\o house was ever erected for a more noble or glorious purpose — there is 
not one on whose roof the sun of Heaven shines, from the Chinese temple 
of a hundred bolls to the pagoda of India, from the mosque of St. Sophia 



SPEECH OF ALVAIV STEWART. 113 

to St. Paul's, from the cathedral of Milan to that of Westminster, around 
which the sympathies of noble hearts and the prayers of the poor will 
gather, as around this Hall dedicated to the Rights of Man ! 

This is the home of the stranger, the resting-place of the fugitive, the 
slave's audience-chamber. Here the cause of the slave, the Seminole, and 
the Cherokee shall be heard. Here, on this rostrum, the advocates of holy 
justice, and Heaven-descended humanity, shall stand and plead for poor in- 
sulted man; here with boldness shall they untwist the guilty texture of 
those laws which from generation to generation have bound men in the dun- 
geons of despair. Here, too, shall criminal expediency be hung up to a na- 
tion's scorn and the world's contempt; that expediency which adjusts po- 
litical balances with the tears and blood of slaves, or sees a nation made 
homeless and exiled beyond the Mississippi for the purpose of securing its 
golden mines. Here shall the good cause come, though excluded from secta- 
rian churches ; here the despised form oi shrunken hurnunity swells beyond 
the measure of its chains, as it ascends and seats itself beneath this dome, 
and feels itself enlarged by surrounding compassion. 

This Temple of Liberty, I trust, will stand as a monument of honor to 
its founders, a standing reproach to the generation of this country in the 
thirty-ninth year of the nineteenth century — a generation, whose House of 
Representatives, in Congress, could resolve that all petitions on the subject 
of slavery should lie on its table, " unread, unprinted, unreferred, unde- 
bated, and unconsidered," — a generation, who, in a fundamental act of con- 
stitutional and organic law, could strike from its roll of voters, in the pri- 
mary assemblies, forty thousand freemen, because of their complexion, — a ge- 
neration whose moral cowardice, only exceeded by their deliberate treachery 
to the rights of man, forced a necessity upon the true lovers of man and 
worshippers of God to erect this building, as a home where Truth might 
commune with her admirers. Patriotism with her followers, and Humanity 
with her friends. 

Let this Hall be like a moral furnace, in which the fires of free discussion 
shall burn night and day, and purify public opinion of the base alloy of ex- 
pediency, and all those inversions of truth, by which first principles are 
surrendered in subserviency to popular prejudice, or crime ! 

Let the gratitude of every lover of his country be expressed towards the gen- 
tlemen, who, in erecting this building, have in the most solemn manner re- 
buked a guilty age. As brick after brick shall moulder away, may the 
coming generations of mankind furnish men who shall restore the perished 
brick, the time-worn stone, and wasted wood of this temple, until wrong 
and crime shall be banished from our country, and the eye of the Angel 
of Freedom, gazing over its vast extent of territory, from the St. Croix to 
the Mexican Gulf, and from ihe Atlantic to the Pacific, looks down upon 
no slave ! 



When the speaker |iad taken his seat a person rose, by the name of 
Edwards, a stranger to us, and asked permission to correct an error into 
which some of the speakers, during the Dedication, had fallen. He said 
he was not a Roman Catholic, but he believed them to be as much the 
friends of Liberty as the otlier denominations of Christians ; and could 
point to individuals in Great Britain, belonging to that sect, who had been 
very active in the anti-slavery cause. It was, therefore, unfair to imply, 
as he thought some of the speakers had done, that the Roman Catholics 

15 



114 THIRD DAY AFTERNOON SESSION. 

were opposed to freedom. Upon this, remarks were made by a number of 
persions ; and, among oilier things, it was slated that the churches of the 
Koman Catholics were not disgraced by negro-pews, but that the dilferent 
members of the human family met together there in worship without regard 
being paid to " the hue of their skin or the curl of their hair." Alvan 
Stewart said this was new to him ; and if it was a fact, it was very cre- 
ditable to that denomination. He hoped it would be remembered by the 
abolitionists. For his part he disclaimed any intention of impeaching the 
character of the Koman Catholics. 

A few remarks were then made by E. C. Pritchett, upon the grounds 
of hope that the anti-slavery cause will soon triumph ; — slating that 
the slaveholders will be unable to resist the truth, and besides that they 
will soon fuul themselves borne along by the more powerful tide of public 
opinion. He was followed by C. C. Birleigh, who, in a single sentence, 
stated that he also felt assured of the success of abolitionism, but that his 
assurance was founded on the power of truth, and not of public opinion. 
He denied that the latter was the more powerful. Pritchett explained, 
and added some remarks to prove that public opinion, when once directed 
against slavery, would be irresistible. 

William H. Birleigh then rose and said, he hoped something sub- 
stantial might be done for the poor Cherokees, to whom allusion has been 
made this afternoon, and who are about to be expelled on the 23d instant from 
their homes by the armed force of the United States. As some resolutions 
on this subject have been prepared, he hoped they would now be offered. 

The following preamble and resolutions were then read and adopted. 
And we rejoice to say that, out of an audience of between two and three 
thousand persons, nearly all of whom voted, there were only three, we 
believe, who responded in the negative ! Tliis act of mercy and of Christian 
benevolence finished the dedication of the Hall. 

'■ At this lime, wlien the liberties of a noble, but unfortunate race are about to be cloven ifcjwn 
by the cupiility of an avaricious p<.'opIe, — when a stain is about to be cast upon our national 
escutcheon, which the tears and n'grets of after ages will never be able to remove, — it becomes 
the dutv of all the friends of Humaniiy, to raise their voices against a measure which would thus 
entail disgrace ujwn this country, and ruin ujwn its aboriginal inluibitants. Therefore, 

" liesoli-ed. That we do unetjuivocally disapprove, and indignantly condemn, the attempt about 
to be made by the L'nited Slates' Government, for the forcible i-emoval of the Cherokee nation. 

" Resolved^ That a copy of the foregoing Preamble and Resolution be forwarded to our Re- 
presentatives in Tongress, to the President of the L'nited States, and tlie Governor of our Com- 
inoii wealth." 

The above resolutions were passed on the 16th. On the 22d the Presi- 
dent of the United States sent a message to Congress, (accompanying a 
conciliatory communication, dated " May 18lh," addressed by the Secretary 
of War to the Cherokee Delegation.) in order that such measures might be 
adopted by Congress " as are required to carry into elTect the benevolent 
intentions of the government toward the Cherokee jia/io/i," and which, it 
was hoped, wouUi •' induce them to remove peaceably and contentedly \o 
their new homes in the West." 

We have not the vanity to suppose these resolutions produced either the 
message or the communication alluded to, but we do believe they were 
timely and proper ; and we rejoice that the last act in the Dedication of the 
Pennsylvania Hall was an unequivocal testimony against the cruelty, frauds, 
and injustice pr.icliseJ against the persecuted and suffering Indian. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATE A. S. SOCIETY. 115 



In the account of the meetings held in Pennsylvania Hall given thus far, 
we have confined ourselves to those which were held under the direction 
of the Managers, and which constituted the Dedication. The Lecture-room, 
however, was occupied on the preceding day by the "Anti-Slavery Con- 
vention of American Women," who also occupied the Saloon during a part 
of the succeeding day. Under the account of the next day's meetings we 
shall give the minutes of the proceedings of the Convention just named, 
from the commencement of its session up to the time of the fire, as published 
by that body. 

The Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery Society for the Eastern District, 
also, held two meetings in the Saloon this day. The minutes of these 
meetings have been published in the " Pennsylvania Freeman," a weekly 
paper of this city — the organ of that Society. They are as follows: 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATE SOCIETY. 

A meeting of the Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery Society for the Eastern 
District, was held in the large Saloon of the Pennsylvania Hall, May 16, 
1838, at eight o'clock, A. M. 

Abr'm. L. Pennock, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, called 
the meeting to order, when, on motion, Lewis C. Gunn, Wm. A. Garrigues, 
and James Rhoads, were appointed Secretaries, 

On motion, it was 

Resolved, That members of Anti-Slavery Societies auxiliary to the State 
Society, but who have not been appointed delegates to this meeting, be 
received as such. 

Resolved, That all strangers, members of Anti-Slavery Societies, in 
attendance, be invited to take seats as corresponding members. 

Portions of the minutes of the First Annual meeting of the Society held 
at Harrisburg, January 15th, last, were then read. 

On motion of Wm. H. Burleigh, 

John W. Leeke, of Chester County, was invited to take a seat as a 
corresponding member. 

The Report of the Executive Committee for the Eastern District was 
read, and, on motion, adopted. 

On motion of Samuel Webb, it was 

Resolved, That a large edition of the same be printed, and circulated in 
every part of the state, under the direction of the Executive Committee. 

Peter Wright, William Jackson, Nathan Stem, George Sellers, Samuel 
Webb, and James Wood, were appointed a Finance Committee, to take into 
consideration the amount of money necessary to be raised during the ensuing 
year. 

John G. Whittier read a statement of the number of societies which had 
reported themselves auxiliary to the State Society, and requested persons 
in attendance to furnish Joseph Healy (the agent of the Pennsylvania F'ree- 
man) with the names of all other societies not reported, also the date of their 
organization, number of members at that time and at the present, and the 
names of the President, Corresponding Secretary, and Recording Secretary 
of each. 

William Harned, Lewis C. Gunn, and Samuel D. Hastings were then 
appointed a committee to confer with the Convention of American Women, 
the Requited Labor Convention, and the Managers of the Psnnsylvania 
Hall, relative to holding meetings during the remainder of the Present week. 



116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATE A. S. SOCIETY. 

The following resolution, adopted by the American Anti-Slavery Society 
at its last slated meetini^, relative to the relations of the Parent Society and 
its auxiliaries, was referreil to Lewis ('. Gunn, John (i. Wliiiiier, Wm. C. 
Hradley, Joseph Janiiev, Janjes \V. Weir, Lindley Coates, Alan W. Corson, 
Win. II. Johnson, and Jainrs Fulton, jr., for consideration. 

" Resolved, Tliat il lie rccoramcndt-il to such state or other auxilwrii-s as are ilisjioscil to take 
the cliarge of the Abolition c;tiise within liieir rc«iK-ctive ficUls, to make ari-aiigenieiits ^« ith the 
Executi\e Commiltcc of this Socicly, guaranteeing to our tri-iisur)- such 8l:it(;(l |>a> minis as may 
be judgeil reasonable, and then assume within their own liniits tlie entire diix-ttion of leclurei-8 
and agents in forming local soeiities, collecting fun<ls, circulating memorials, and establishing 
lilirariis; and lliat tlii!> Soeutv will not send its agents to laboi' for these objects iu Bucii stales as 
carry out this plan, except in concurrence with the Stale K\eculive Couaniitee.' 

On motion, 

Resolved, That when we adjourn, we adjourn to meet this afternoon at 
two o'cloi-k. 

Wm. A. Garrifues, Wm. II. Scott, Benjamin S. Jones, James Hhoads, 
and Dr. Isaac Parrish, were appointed a committee to prepare and arrange 
suitable business for the Society. 

The Society adjourned. 

AfUrnoon Session. — Vice-President Lindley Coates was called to the 
Chair. 

As a considerable number of delegates had arrived since the morning 
session, and taken their seals, it was, on motion, 

liesolved. That the business committee appointed this morning be dis- 
charged and a new one appointed in its j)lace. 

The following named persons were then appointed to that duty, viz.: — 
Benjamin Lundy, James Fulton, jr., Simon Ilawley, Joshua Dungan, 
Alexander (iraydon, George Sellers, Lindley Coates, Samuel M. Painter, 
Benjamin Bowne, Joseph S. Pickering, John Thomas, Hu^h Gilmore, 
Samuel I). Hastings, Alan W. Corson, Mahlon Murphey, Frederic A. 
Iliiitoi), and James M'Cruminell. 

Samuel Welih oll'cred ihe h)llowing resrdulions : 

Resolved, That we will neither vote for. nor support the election of, any 
man to any legislative othcc whatever, who is opposed to the immediate 
abolition of slavery. 

Resolved, That we recommend all societies auxiliary to this Society, to 
pass a similar resolution. 

Rfsolved, That every abolitionist, who has a right to vole, be earnestly 
aiid atre<:lionately recommended to carry his abolition principles to the polls, 
and that we cause our petitions to be heard through the medium of the 
ballot-box. 

Alvan Stewart, of Utica, N. Y., eloquently advocated the passage of these 
resolutions. 

John (i. Whiitier offered the following as a substitute, viz.: 

Resolved, That we hold our right of sull'rage sacred to the cause of free- 
dom — and that those candidates for ollice who are opposed to the abolition 
of slavery within the jurisdiction of Congress — wlu) encourage, or in any 
way sustain mob-law, in its attempts to put down the freedom of speech, 
and of the press — and who are in favor of disfranchising the colored citi/ens 
of the state, arc imworlliy to represent freemen, and, whatever may be their 
parly or pretensions, small >ot have oik votes. 

The consideration of these resolutions was made the order of the day for 
Friday mornine: next, 18ih inst., when the Society adjourned until that lime, 
to meet at li;df pasi seven o'clock. 

Lkwl** C. (ii nn. Seerelary. 



SPEECH OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 117 



THIRD DAY— EVENING MEETING. 



During the day, application was made to the Managers by a gentleman, 
who was one of a committee of arrangements, for the use of the Saloon this 
evening " for a public meeting, to be addressed by Angelina E. G. Weld, 
Maria W. Chapman, and others." At the time, we understood the meeting 
was to be one of the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, then 
in session in this city; and in our communications to the Mayor and SiierifF 
we so stated it. But we have since ascertained that many of the members 
of that Convention disapproved of the public addresses of women to pro- 
miscuous assemblies, and that, therefore, the meeting was not called or 
managed by them as a Convention, but by a number of individuals whose 
views were difierent, and who were anxious that such a meeting should be 
held. 

Long before the time for the meeting to commence, the Hall was thronged; 
and hundreds, if not thousands, went away, unable to obtain access. Not- 
withstanding the immensity of the congregation, there was but little 
confusion in the building, and that soon subsided, although frequent voUies 
of stones were thrown against the windows, and some disorganizers within 
made repeated efforts to frighten the audience. The firmness and self-pos- 
session of the speakers could not fail to excite admiration, and tended greatly 
to preserve the order of the meeting. The first speaker was William 
Lloyd Garrison.* 



REMARKS OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 

He commenced his remarks by quoting, in justification of his plainness 
of speech respecting slavery and slaveholders, the admirable defence made 
by Martin Luther under circumstances, as he said, somewhat analoo-ous, 
namely — that almost all men condemned the tartness of his expressions ; 
but he was of opinion that God would have the deceits of men thus power- 
fully exposed ; for he plainly perceived that those things which were softly 
dealt with in this corrupt age, gave people but light concern, and were pre- 
sently forgotten. If at any time he had exceeded the bounds of moderation 
the monstrous turpitude of the times had transported him. Nor did he tran- 
scend the example of Christ, who, when he had to deal with people of like 
manners, called them sharply by their proper names — such as, an adulterous 
and perverse generation — a brood of vipers — hypocrites — children of the 
Devil, who could not escape the damnation of hell. The crime of slavehold- 
ing is so atrocious, so contrary to every principle of humanity and every 
law of justice, so terrible in its results, and so impious in its claims, that 

* As this gentleman has heen accused by some of the newspaper editors of tliis citv, and by 
others, who know not whereof they affirm, and care not whether they utter truth or falsehood, of 
having branded Washington as a robber and a nian-stealer, in his addresses in the Hall, we here 
contradict the report unequivocally, and pronounce it absolutely false. If his addresses were not 
furnished, to satisfy the unbelieving, we could appeal witli confidence to all who heard him, to 
bear witness against his accusers. Neither in the Hall, nor on any other occasion, as he himself 
says, in referring to the charge, has he meddled with the memory of Washington in the manner 
falsely ascribed to him. The fact is, our warfare is witjj the living, not with the dead. 



118 THIRD DAY EVENING MKETING. 

no language can properly describe it. An able reviewer has forcibly said, 
*' it excites ideas of abhorrence beyond our capacity of expression, and must 
be the subject of mute astonishment and speechless horror." 

I have risen to occupy but a very small portion of the evening. There 
are other speakers to fullow me, gifted in intellect, and capable of pleading 
the cause of the bondmen and bondwomen in our land far more eflectually 
tlian myself. In the course of my remarks yesterday, I freely censured 
some of the sentiments contained in the address delivered at the opening of 
the Hall ; and I am constrained to refer to them again, on this occasion, in 
a more specific shape. I am not ignorant of the fact, that the eloquent 
author of the address has, for many years, exhibited rare professional zeal 
and disinterestedness, in trratuitously defending many a poor colored victim 
who has been arrested in Philadelphia as a runaway from Southern yokes 
and fetters. — Such conduct is worthy of the highest encomiums; but, 
while it should ever be gratefully appreciated, it ought not to furnish a cover 
for the dissemination of sentiments which are hostile to the liberty and 
equality of the human race. True humanity is not local, but universal in 
its sympathy: it is concerned not only for the safety of the slave who has 
emancipated himself by flight, but also for him who is actually wearing the 
galling fellers of slavery. 

I shall now proceed to recapitulate — which I neglected to do yesterday — 
some of the positions in the address alluded to, which, as the advocate of 
my manacled countrymen, I am in duty bound to reprobate— embodying, as 
they do, the most fatal lieresies that have ever been promulged by corrupt 
colonizationists and incorrigible slaveholders. The orator declared — 

1. If it were in iiis power, and it were left for him to decide, he should 
hesitate before striking otf the chains of the slaves at a blow — and simply 
from a regard for their welfare ! 

So would George McDuIhe hesitate! So would the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia hesitate I So would every slave-driver at the South hesitate ! And all 
from the most merciful considerations toward the victims of their cruelty ! 
Not that I mean to associate the orator with the slaveholder, in spirit and 
design. No! Hut as he joins with the latter in the opinion that the slaves 
are unfit for a state of freedom — as he declares that lie would leave them still 
longer in slavery — I pronounce him to be in fact, I do not say in intention, 
the upholder of a system which robs men of their inalienable rights, and 
ranks them among cattle and creeping things. Hence, he is no abolUionisl. 
As a slave, I cannot regard him as the consistent champion of liberty, while 
he is willing to allow me my liberty in his own city, but not on the soil of 
South Carolina. Why hesitate, for one moment, to break the chains of the 
slaves instantaneously ? Are they not unjustly held in bondajje ? If not, 
then is not oppression inconsistent wiih humanity! Are they not guiltless 
of crime? And is innocency to be fettered? Detestable doctrine! 'I'he 
climax of absurtlity in philosophy, as well as philanthropy, is, to talk of 
holding human beings in slavery — as chaltels personal — for their good! 
But— 

2. He would prepare the slaves for freedom, so that in the course of half 
a century, he thought, they might all safely be set free! 

The old syren song of fcraduali.ttn! Prepare men to receive, at some 
distant day, that which is theirs by birthriuht ! Prepare husbamls to live 
wiih their wives, and wives to be indissolubly allieil to their husbands! 
Prepare parents to cherish their own children! Prepare the lab(»rer to re- 
ceive a just recompense for his toil! What sort of honesty or humanity is 
this ? " Set free" — from what ? Not, surely, from the restraints of law, 
or the obligations of society; but from irresponsible power, usurped domi- 



SPEECH OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 119 

nion, tyrannical authority. Now, here is a man, claiming to be a philan- 
thropist, who says he is willing to liave the slaves set free in fifty years — 
i. e. free from despotic control ! For forty-nine years, eleven months, and 
some odd days, he consents to the exercise of this control over them — for 
their special benefit, too, — as excellent scholastic treatment, in order to initiate 
them into the rudiments of liberty — into the mystery of owning their own 
bodies, and of receiving cash instead of the lash for their labor ! The Al- 
mighty demands of oppressors, that they break every yoke, and set their 
captives free, witJiont delay; but here is one of his creatures giving a worse 
than papal indulgence to men-stealers, to prolong their robbery and oppres- 
sion for at least half a century from the present date ! " Whether it be 
right, in the sight of God, to hearken unto men more than unto God, judge 

ye." 

3. He would change the word immediate for certain emancipation. 
Let the slaveholders designate the time when they will manumit their 
slaves, and he will agree to it, "so it be in time, and not in eternity!" 

Emancipation will be in season, therefore, at any period short of the final 
conflagration ! Let it come in time — a thousand years hence — before the 
earth is destroyed, and the whole human race are swept into eternity — and 
the orator will be satisfied ! Why, the slaveholders will give him a pledge 
to that effect, unanimously, and instanter. There is not one of them who 
expects to cultivate cotton or sugar, or carry on the traffic in human flesh, 
" in eternity" — let them retain their slaves till within an hour of that period 
when " time shall be no longer," and they will then turn immediate eman- 
cipationists ! — their ivord for it ! Again : 

4. He advocated the appropriation of a portion of tlie national income to 
the purchase of the slaves. 

I will not stop to consider the insurmountable difficulties which lie in the 
way of this plan, to prevent its success ; but I scout it with abhorrence, as 
corrupt in principle, and inhuman in its tendency. What! pay the forgers 
of yokes and fetters for ceasing to manacle innocent human beings I Pay 
the wrong-doers, instead of those who have suffered wrong ! Remunerate 
those who have subsisted upon plunder all their days ! Away with the in- 
sulting proposition ! 

5. Although he ridiculed the scheme of African colonization, he was ne- 
vertheless in favor of a total separation of the white and colored population 
on this continent. Let the latter be colonized, like the hunted red men, 
somewhere this side the Pacific ocean. 

The proposition is as impracticable as it is unnatural. Any attempt to 
enforce such a separation would inevitably lead to a civil war — a war of ex- 
termination. No allurements, however enticing, can ever induce the people 
of color to remove, en masse, any where as a distinct race. The pride of 
the whites is to be humbled in the dust, and their prejudice to be worn away 
by contact. The spirit that would colonize men in any particular section 
of territory, on account of their complexion, is neither patriotic nor Chris- 
tian, and cannot therefore be philanthropic. 

6. He thought laws should be enacted, emancipating the ofTspring of 
slave parents at a certain age. 

On what principle of justice should this be done ? The suggestion is 
obviously inhuman. Coming from such a source, it fills me with surprise 
and indignation. I will listen to no proposition that leaves a single human 
being in chains and slavery. Yet here is one coolly and deliberately made, 
to retain the parents as chattels personal, but to recognise their offspring as 
human beings ! I appeal to the humanity of this audience — to the fathers 



120 THIRD DAV — KVLMXG MELTING. 

and nioihers, ihe sons and daughters, who are present — is not such a plan 
of aboliiion at war with even animal instinct, and with all parental and filial 
aflection? How, as a father, or as a son, could the orator find it in his 
heart to propound it, in this age of light — in the city of Penn — in the very 
act of dedicating this Hall to " Virtue, Liberty, and IndependenceJ" Was 
1 not justified, yesterday, in re()udialing it as oppressive and scandalous? 
Now, 1 say, if imuiediale and <ou)i)k'te emancipation cannot be given to all 
the slaves, without distinction of age or relalionsliip, (which 1 deny,) then, 
instead of manumilling the children, justice demands the emancipation of 
the parents lirsi ; for, to make them free is to insure the freedont of their 
future odspring. Besides, it is but fair that the heavy burden of slavery 
should be divided, instead of being borne by one party. In the name of 
mercy, let the scarred and toil-worn fathers and mothers, whose remnant of 
davs is now dwindled to a span, go free, that they may taste some of the 
sweets of liberty and have a Christian burial! And let their children fill 
their places — if there inunl be a gradual emancipation. But the omnipotent 
fiat of Jehovah is, " Proclaim Liberty throughout all the laud, unto all the 
inhabitants thereof." 

7. He proposed the enactment of laws, providing for the education of the 
slaves as preparatory to their liberation. 

This proposal is more than a century old — but when was it ever carried 
into eflect ? Educate beasts of burden for freedom ! How rational ! On 
one page of the statute-book, the "slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, and 
reputed to be chattels jumoiutl in the liando of their owners and possessors, 
their executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and 
purposes whatsoever ;" on the opposite page, they shall enjoy the privileges 
of education as intellectual and moral beings ! Finally — 

8. He preferred the perpetuity of slavery to a dissolution of the Union. 
A heathen could exclaim, " let justice be done though the heavens fall." 

Shall an American patriot do less ? Whatever is contrary to humanity 
should be destroyed. There cannot be union where there is not equity, 
nor equity where there is oppression. To talk of preferring a human com- 
pact above all the requirements of Heaven, is infatuation. Is it possible, 
that, by ceasing to shed innocent blood, we shall take away the cement of our 
National Union ? Dare any man, professing to believe in Christianity, say 
that there can be any object so dear as to justify cruelty, robbery, licentious- 
ness and soul murder? The thought is blasphemy ! But no such alterna- 
tive is presented to us; and if it were, none but practical atheists would 
hesitate to exclaim — "Honesty before policy ! Justice before expediency ! 
Innocency before union !" 

These are some of the reasons which induced me, yesterday, to bear my 
testimony against a portion of tlie dedicatory address, and to aillrm that this 
Hall needed a new baptism in the names of " Virtue, Liberty, and Indepen- 
dence." 

In the course of my remarks, I also look occasion to renew the expres- 
sions of my abhorrence of that proud, implacable, and hypocritical association, 
the Colonization Society ; and, perceiving by placards in the streets, that 
a new champion of that Society is to make his appearance next week, ia 
the person of a foreign adventurer, I alluded to the fact in plain, indignant 
terms. 1 spoke of him as an Englishman, not tauntingly, but to his shame; 
for I cannot reproach any man on account of his complexion or origin. 
My heart long since concrived and my lij)s gave utterance to the sentiment, 
" my country is the world — my coiinirymcn are all mankind." 'I'he gos- 
pel levels all geographical barriers — all national distinctions. But 1 fell that 
both duty and propriety demanded the announcement of the fact, as a strong 



SPEECH OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 121 

aggravation of his conduct, that this conspirator against the peace, happiness, 
and equality of my colored countrymen, by seeking to effect their expulsion 
from llie soil on which they were born, is a foreigner. In his reply, he 
said that I was not taunted when I visited England, with being an American, 
or of foreign extraction. True ! And why ? Because I was hailed as the 
uncompromising foe of those twin-monsters, Colonization and Slavery! 
But if I had gone to that country to assist a haughty and malignant aristo- 
cracy in banishing a certain portion of inhabitants to another continent, on 
account of their condition or physical conformation, what taunt, what re- 
buke should I not have deserved from the lips of good men throughout the 
world ? 

He passed a glowing panegyric upon the spirit of liberty now prevalent 
in Great Britain — spoke of that government as the freest of the free — and 
quoted exultingly the memorable boast of Cowper — 

"Slaves cannot breathe in Ensland — if their lungs 
Receive our air, that moiiient tliey are free ! 
The touch our country and their shackles fall!" 

Now I ask, what is the sentence which Great Britain has passed upon the 
Colonization Society, which this pseudo-philanthropist, stands forth to de- 
fend ? It is one of utter condemnation ! What is the language of such 
men as Lord Sufheld, and Zachary Macanlay, and Fowell Buxton, and 
James Cropper, and William Allen, and Daniel O'ConncIl, and last but first 
of all, William Wilberforce ? — Hear it ! — " We feel bound to affirm, that 
our deliberate judgment and conviction are, that the professions made by the 
Colonization Society, of promoting the abolition of slavery, are altogether 
delusive. * * * To the destruction of slavery throughout the world, we are 
compelled to say, that we believe the Colonization Society to be an obstruc- 
tion. * * * While we believe its pretexts to be delusive, we are convinced 
that its real effects are of the most dangerous nature. It takes its root from 
a cruel prejudice and alienation in the whites of America against the colored 
people, slave or free. * * * That Society is, in our estimation, not deserv- 
ing of the countenance of the British public." 

The gentleman pathetically described himself as " an exile" from the land 
of light and liberty. So is the notable Elliot Cresson, who went to England 
on a fraudulent mission in behalf of the Colonization Society, and returned 
home covered with shame and disgrace ! Both, it seems, have been coloniz- 
ed, — "with their own consent," certainly. "' Par nobilefratrum.'^ But 
this new champion of American prejudice is " an exile," forsooth ! Why ex- 
iled ? Surely, not on account of the color of his skin? It is reported in 
the newspapers, that the Emperor of Austria, since he has heard of the nu- 
merous riots and lynchings in this land, has seriously thought of sending his 
criminals to us as a sort of Botany Bay ; but I have not heard that England 
contemplates any such thing. I know nothing, therefore, derogatory to the 
character of this individual — but is it not a suspicious circumstance that he 
is living in exile ? Externally, he may be beautiful as a whited sepulchre ; 
but internally, he avows that he is full of colonization corruption and un- 
cleanness. It is said of a certain class of persons — 

"True patriots they — for be it uiulerstood, 
They left their country for tiicir country's good !" 

I can hardly believe that this person is one of these patriots ; but, avowing 
himself to be the friend and admirer of the Colonization Society — i. e., iron- 
hearted — it is evident that he has been drawn from a land of liberty to a land 

IG 



122 THIRD DAY — EVENl.NG MEETING. 



of slavery by the loadstone of •'elective affinity" — for it is a time-honored 
maxim, that " birds of a feather flock together." If I may be allowed a piece 
of sorrowful irony — he has come hither to help the while birds drive away 
ihe black ones, that ihcy may have all the strawberries and cherries, insects 
and worms, to themselves. Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, 
that, through a Southern amalgamating process, an eighth wonder has been 
added to the world — the land is swarming with white black-birds.' 

1 will relate an anecdote, to illustrate the conduct of this recreant English- 
man. I was one day walking down to the Parliament House with the cele- 
brated Irish patriot O'Connell, and, in the course of our conversation, men- 
tioned to him, that very many of the Irisli emigrants, on coming to the United 
States, very soon partook of the prevailing prejudice against the people 
of color, and were prescriptive in their feelings towards them. With a 
generous warmth he instantly exclaimed, " Sir, they are not Irishmen ! 
They are bastard Irishmen !" 

As I am on the subject of African colonization, and have made allusion 
to Mr. O'Connell, I cannot do better than to quote the opinion of this gen- 
tleman respecting that iniquitous scheme. In a speech delivered by him 
in Kxeter Mall, London, in 1833, he said — " The American Colonization 
Society has been branded with many names already. There is, however, 
one which it has not yet received, but which it richly deserves. I knew a 
gentleman, of an imaginative mind, who went out to Sierra Leone; and on 
his return, he told a friend of mine, that a cargo of bars of iron, which had 
been sent to that Colony, was found, after it had lain in a store two months, 
to be completely wort7i-eaten ! Why, said my friend, * what kind of worms 
eat iron ?' ' Oh,' said he, ' they were as like bugs as any worms you can 
see.' My friend, who had a little Irish drollery about him, remarked, ' We 
have bugs of that kind in Ireland, but we call them Jiuin-bu:::s J' Now, the 
American Colonization Society is a bug of that description — it is a him-bug. 
It will eat iron like any thing — it will digest it like an ostrich : there is no- 
thing too hard for the stomach of the Colonization Society. It is the most 
ludicrous Society that ever yet was dreamed of!" 

In concluding his remarks, the speaker said he would not insult the in- 
telligence nor doubt the humanity of the audience, by attempting to show 
that two and two make four — that to enslave beings guiltless of critiie, is an 
outrage upon every principle of justice — oi that those who are unjustly de- 
prived of their liberty ought to be set free without delay. Such propositions 
are self-evident. In allusion to the speakers who were to follow him, he 
remarked that slaveholders and their Northern abettors have atTecled to 
sneer at the labors of women in the anti-slavery enterprise, but they really 
trembled in view of these labors. For what good cause had ever been 
heartily espoused by women, that has not ultimately triumphed over all 
opposition ? 'i'he emancipation of eight hundred thousand slaves in the 
West Indies is mainly owing, under God, to the quenchless devotion, and 
tireless zeal, and indomitable perseverance of the women of England. The 
slave system in this country will And in the women of America most 
formidable antagonists. What astonishing efl'ects have already been 
wrought upon the public mind by the labors of only two of their number! 
Those two were now present — daughters of the South, moreover — repent- 
ant slaveholders ! One of them, at least, would bear her testimony against 
the atrocious sin of slavery this evening, in strong and eloquent language. 
For, though the South demands silence upon this subject, on peril ol death, 
there shall be no silence until the bowlings of the bereaved slave-mother are 
turned into shout:! of joy, ami not a slave i» left to pine on the American 
soil. 



SPEECH OF ANGKLINA E. G. WELD. 123 

AVhile the speaker was addressing the meeting, there were frequent out- 
breaks of a disorderly spirit, such as hissing, shouting, &c. &c. ; and when 
he took his seat, the rioters within the building made great efforts to create 
confusion and break up the meeting. In the midst of the tumult, however, 
Maria W. Chapman, of Boston, rose, and waving her hand to the audience 
to become quiet, she commenced : "Oh! for the strength which will enable 
one on such an occasion to s[)eak forth the truth." Here she was inter- 
rupted for a moment by an indescribable uproar, after which she proceeded 
to express " an earnest desire that the Spirit of divine truth might so far 
penetrate the hearts of all present, that they would be prepared to listen to 
the wail now coming up to them from the burning fields of the South ;" and 
then appealed for a hearing for those who were about to address them on the 
slaves' behalf. 

She was followed by Angelina E. Grimke Weld, a native, and until 
within a few years a resident, of South Carolina. The eloquence of this 
speaker, together with her thorough acquaintance with slavery from having 
been an eye witness of its cruelties and debasing influence, had excited 
much curiosity to hear her upon this subject. It will be seen by the report 
of her remarks given below, that she was frequently interrupted by the mob. 
This circumstance made it next to impossible to give a full report of her re- 
marks, or one that will do justice to her talents. All that we have attempt- 
ed to do, is to furnish an outline of the ideas, wishing the reader to under- 
stand that the chaste, yet forcible language in which they were clothed, could 
not be given. 



SPEECH OF ANGELINA E. G. WELD. 

Men, brethren and fathers — mothers, daughters and sisters, what came ye 
out for to see ? A reed shaken with the wind ? Is it curiosity merely, or a 
deep sympathy with the perishing slave, that has brought this large audience 
together? [A yell from the mob without the building.] Those voices with- 
out ought to awaken and call out our warmest sympathies. Deluded beings ! 
" they know not what they do." They know not that they are undermin- 
ing their own rights and their own happiness, temporal and eternal. Do 
you ask, " what has the North to do with slavery ?" Hear it — hear it. 
Those voices without tell us that the spirit of slavery is here, and has been 
roused to wrath by our abolition speeches and conventions : for surely liberty 
would not foam and tear herself with rage, because her friends are niulliplied 
daily, and meetings are held in quick succession to set forth her virtues 
and extend her peaceful kingdom. This opposition shows that slavery has 
done its deadliest work in the hearts of our citizens. Do you ask, then^ 
" what has the North to do ?" I answer, cast out first the spirit of slavery 
from your own hearts, and then lend your aid to convert the South. Each 
one present has a work to do, be his or her situation what it may, however 
limited their means, or insignificant their supposed influence. The great 
men of this country will not do this work ; the church will never do it. A 
desire to please the world, to keep the favor of all parties and of all condi<- 
tions, makes them dumb on this and every other unpopular subject. 'I'hey 
have become worldly-wise, and therefore God, in his wisdom, employs them 
not to carry on his plans of reformation and salvation. He hath chosen the 
foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak to overcome 
the mighty. 

As a Southerner I feel that it is my duty to stand up here to-night and 



1*24 THIRD DAY — LVEMNO ME KTl.NC. 

bear testimony against slavery. 1 have seen it — I have seen it. 1 know it 
has horrors that can never be described. I was brought up under its wint;: 
1 witnessed for many years its demoralizintr influences, and its desiruc- 
liveness to human happiness. It is admitted by some tliat the slave is not 
happy under tlie wora' forms of slavery. But I have never seen a happy 
slave. I have seen him dance in his chains, it is true ; but he was not hap- 
py. There is a wide dillurence between happiness and mirth. Man cannot 
enjoy the former while his manhood is destroyed, and that part of the being 
winch is necessary to Uie making, and to the enjoyment of happiness, is 
completely blntied out. The slaves, however, may be, and sometimes are, 
mirthful. When hope is extinguished, they sav, "let us eat and drink, for 
to-morrow we die." [Just then stones were thrown at the windows, — a 
great noise without, and commotion within.] What is a mob ? What would 
the breaking of every window be? What would the levelling of this Hall 
be ? Any evidence that we are wrong, or that slavery is a good and whole- 
some insiiliition I What if the mob should now burst in upon us, break up 
our meeting and commit violence upon our persons — would this be any thing 
compared with what the slaves endure ? No, no : and we do not -remember 
them " as bound with them," if we shrink in the lime of peril, or feel un- 
willing to sacrili(!e ourselves, if need be, for their sake. [Great noise.] I 
thank the Lord that there is yet life left enough to feel the truth, even 
though it rages at it — that conscience is not so comj)letely seared as to be 
unmoved by the truth of the living God. 

.M;iny persons go to the South for a season, and are hospitably entertain- 
ed in the parlor and at the table of the slave-holder. They never enter the 
huts of the slaves ; they know nothing of the dark side of tlie picture, and 
they return home with praises on their lips of the generous character of 
those with whom they had tarried. Or if they have witnessed the cruelties 
of slavery, by reiniiiiiug silent spectators they have naturally become cal- 
lous — an insensibility has ensued which prepares them to apologize even for 
barbarity. Nothing but the corrupting influence of slavery on the hearts of 
the Northern people can induce them to apologize for it ; and much will 
have been done for the destruction of Southern slavery wlien we have so 
reformed the North that no one here will be willing to risk his reputation by 
advocating or even excusing the holding of men as property. The South 
know it, and acknowledge that as fast as our principles prevail, the hold of 
the master must be relaxed. [Another outbreak of mobocratic spirit, and 
some confusion in the house.] 

How wonderfully constituted is the human mind ! How it resist.'', as long 
as it can, all efl"orts made to reclaim from error! I feel that all this disturb- 
ance is but an evidence that our eflorts are the best that could have been 
adopted, or else the frienils of slavery would not care for what we say and 
do. The South know what we do. I am thankful that they are reached by 
our efl^orts. Many times have 1 wept in tlie land of my birth, over the 
system of slavery. I knew of none who sympathized in my feelings — I was 
unaware that any elTorts were made to deliver the oppressed — no voice in 
the wilderness was heard calling n\\ the people to repent and do works meet 
for repentance — and my heart sickened within me. Oh, how should I have 
rejoiced to know that such efforts as these were being made. I only wonder 
that I had such feelings, I wonder when I reflect under what influence I 
was broucht up, that my heart is not harder than the nether millstone. But 
in the midst ot temptation I was preserved, and my sympathy grew warmer, 
and my haired of slavery more inveterate, until at last I have exiled myself 
from my native land because I could no Umger endure to hear the wailing of 
the sime. I fled to the land of Penn ; for here, ihoiighl T, sympathy for tlie 



SPEECH OF ANGELINA E. G. WELD. 125 

slave will surely be found. But I found it not. The people were kind and 
hospitable, but the slave had no place in their thoughts. Whenever ques- 
tions were put to me as to his condition, I felt that tliey were dictated by an 
idle curiosity, rather than by that deep feeling wiiich would lead to effort for 
his rescue. I therefore shut up my grief in my own heart. I remembered 
that I was a Carolinian, from a stale which framed this iniquity by law. I 
knew that throughout her territory was continual suffering, on the one part, 
and continual brutality and sin on the other. Every Southern breeze 
wafted to me the discordant tones of weeping and wailing, shrieks and groans, 
mingled with prayers and blasphemous curses. I thought there was no hope ; 
that the wicked would go on in his wickedness, until he had destroyed 
both himself and his country. My heart sunk within me at the abominations 
in the midst of which I had been born and educated. What will it avail, 
cried I in bitterness of spirit, to expose to the gaze of strangers the horrors 
and pollutions of slavery, when there is no ear to hear nor heart to feel and 
pray for the slave. The language of my soul was, " Oh tell it not in Gath, 
publish it not in the streets of Askelon." But how different do I feel now ! 
Animated with hope, nay, with an assurance of the triumph of liberty and 
good will to man, I will lift up my voice like a trumpet, and show this peo- 
ple their transgression, their sins of omission towards the slave, and what 
they can do towards affecting Southern mind, and overthrowing Southern 
oppression. 

We may talk of occupying neutral ground, but on this subject, in its pre- 
sent attitude, there is no such thing as neutral ground. He that is not for us 
is against us, and he that gathereth not with us, scattereth abroad. If you 
are on what you suppose to be neutral ground, the South look upon you as 
on tlie side of the o[)pressor. And is there one who loves his country wil- 
ling to give his influence, even indirectly, in favor of slavery — that curse of 
nations? God swept Egypt with the besom of destruction, and punished 
Judea also with a sore punishment, because of slavery. And have we any 
reason to believe that he is less just now '. — or that he will be more favorable 
to us than to his own " peculiar people?" [Shoutings, stones thrown against 
the windows, &;c.] 

There is nothing to be feared from those who would stop our mouths, but 
they themselves should fear and tremble. The current is even now setting 
frtst against them. If the arm of the North had not caused the Bastile of 
slavery to totter to its foundation, you would not hear those cries. A few 
years ago, and the South felt secure, and with a contemptuous sneer asked, 
" Who are the abolitionists ? The abolitionists are nothing ?" — Ay, in one 
sense they were nothing, and they are nothing still. But in this we rejoice, 
that " God has chosen things that are not to bring to nought things that are." 
[Mob again disturbed the meeting.] 

We often hear the question asked, " What shall we do ?" Here is an op- 
portunity for doing something now. Every man and every woman present 
may do, something by showing that we fear not a mob, and, in the midst of 
threatenings and revilings, by opening our mouths for the dumb and plead- 
ing the cause of those who are ready to perish. 

To work as we should in this cause, we must know what Slavery is. 
Let me urge you then to buy the books which have been written on this 
subject and read them, and then lend them to your neighbors. Give your 
money no longer for things which pander to pride and lust, but aid in scat- 
tering "the living coals of truth" upon the naked heart of this nation, — in 
circulating appeals to the sympathies of Christians in behalf of the outraged 
and suffering slave. But, it is said by some, our " books and papers do not 
speak the truth." Why, then, do they not contradict what we say ? They 



126 THIRD DAY — EVLMXG MEETING. 

cannot. Moreover the South has entreated, nay commanded us to be sileni ; 
and what greater evidence of the truth of our publicaiioiis could be desired? 

Women of Philadelphia ! allow nie as a Southern woman, with much at- 
tachment to the land of my birth, to entreat you to come up to this work. 
Especially let me urge you to petition. JSIcn may sellle this and other 
questions at the ballol-box, but you have no such right; it is only through 
petitions that you can reach the Lejiislature. It is therefore peculiarly your 
duty to petition. Do you say, " It does no good?" The South already 
turns pale at the number sent. 'J^hey have read the reports of the proceed- 
ings of ('ongress, and there have seen that among other petitions were very 
many from the women of the North on the subject of slavery. This fact 
has called the attention of the South to the subject. How could we expect 
to have done more as yet? Men who hold the rod over slaves, rule in the 
councils of the nation: and they deny our right to petition and to remonstrate 
against abuses of our sex and of our kind. We have these rights, however, 
from our God. Only let us exercise them: and though often turned away 
unanswered, let us remember the influence ol' importunity upon the unjust 
judge, and act accordingly. The fact that the South look with jealousy upon 
our measures shows that they are efl'ectual. 'I'here is, therefore, no cause 
for doubting or despair, but rather for rejoicing. 

It was remarked in England that women did much to abolish Slavery in 
her colonies. Nor :ire they now idle. Numerous petitions from them have 
recently been presented to the Queen, to abolish the apprenticeship with its 
cruelties nearly equal to those of the system whose place it supplies. One 
petition two miles and a quarter long has been presented. And do you 
think these labors will be in vaiis ? Let the history of the past answer. 
When the women of these Slates send up to Congress such a petition, our 
legislators will arise as did those of England, and say, " When all the maids 
and matrons of the land are knocking at our doors we must legislate," Let 
the zeal and love, the faith and works of our English sisters quicken ours — 
that while the slaves continue to sutler, and when they shout deliverance, 
we may feel the satisfaction oi having done ivhal ice could. 



\{ K M ARKS F A B BY K E L L Y . 

As soon as the speaker had taken'her seat, Abby Kelly, of Lynn, Mas- 
sachusetts, rose and said : 

I ask permission to say a few words. I have never before addressed a 
promiscuous assembly ; nor is it now the maddening rush of those voices, 
which is the indication of a moral whirlwind, nor is it the crashing of those 
WMuiows, which is the indication t)f a moral earthquake, that calls me be- 
fore you. No, not these. These pass unheeded by me. Hut it is the 
still small v(»ice within, which may not be withstood, that bids me open 
my mouth for the dumb, — that bids me plead the cause of God's perishing 
poor — ay, (rotl's poor. 

'J'he parable of Lazarus^and the rich man'we may well bring home to 
ourselves. 'I'he North is that rich man. Hotv he is clothed in purple and 
tine linen, and fares sumpiunuslv every day ! Yonder, yonder, at a little 
distance, is the gate where lies the Lazarus of the South, full of sores, and 
desiring to be fed wiili the crumbs that fall from our luxurious table. Look! 
see him there ; even the dogs are more merciful than we. Oh ! see him 
where he lies I ! We have long, very lotiii, passed by with averted eyes. 
Oiitrhl not we to raise him up; and is there one in this Hall who sees 
nothing for hiuisilf to du \ 



PROCEEDINGS OF TJIE REtiUlTED LABOR CONVENTION. 127 



A FEW remarks were then made by Lucretia Mott, of Philadelphia, 
stating that the present was not a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Convention of 
American Women, as was supposed by some, and explaining the reason why 
their meetings were confined to females — to wit, that many of the members 
of that Convention considered it improper for women to address promiscuous 
assemblies. She expressed the " hope that such false notions of delicacy 
and propriety would not long obtain in this enlightened country." 

The meeting then adjourned. 



THE FOURTH AND LAST DAY. 



The Hall was occupied this day by the Requited Labor Convention, and 
the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, for business meetings. 
The character of each of those bodies may be learned from the minutes of 
their proceedings. 



REQUITED LABOR CONVENTION. 

At a meeting of the delegates to the " Requited Labor Convention," held 
in the Lecture-room of the Pennsylvania Hall, Fifth month 17th, 1838, the 
meeting was called to order by William C. Betts of Philadelphia; and, on 
motion, William Bassett, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was appointed President, 
and Wm. C. Betts, of Philadelphia, and Alice Eliza Hambleton, of Chester 
County, Secretaries. 

The call for the Convention was read, and the names of the delegates 
enrolled ; when, on motion, they proceeded to form a National Requited 
Labor Association. 

On motion, the following committees were then appointed, viz. : a Com- 
mittee to draft a Constitution for the Association ; a Committee to prepare 
business for the Convention; a Committee to prepare and publish an address 
on the duty of abstaining from the produce of slave labor; and a Committee 
to inquire into the best mode of supplying the market with articles produced 
by remunerated labor. 

The Convention then adjourned to meet in the Saloon at two o'clock this 
afternoon. 

Jifternoon Session. — The Convention assembled at two o'clock, accord- 
ing to adjournment. 

The roll was called, numbering two hundred and seventy-one delegates. 

The minutes of the morning session were read and approved. 

The Business Committee reported, recommending that a portion of time 
be devoted to a discussion of the duty of abstaining from slave labor produce, 
which was adopted. 

Alanson St. Clair then offered the following resolution: 

Resolved, That we will in all cases give a preference to the products of 



1*28 ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION OF AMKKUAN WOMEN. 

free labor over those of slavery ; and never, if we can have a choice between 
the two, give countenance to slaveholdinjj, by puroliasing, tralVicing in, or 
using the laltrr. 

A number of persons spoke upon this resolution, when, the hour for ad- 
journiiient having arnv»d, llie Convention adjourned to meet at ten o'clock 
to-morrow murning, in ilie same place. 

. ,, ,, } Secretaries. 

Alue Lliza Hamdleton, S 



A. S. CONVENT! O N F A M E R I C A N WOMEN. 

On Tucsdav. May I5th, 1838, at 10 o'clock, A. .M.. the Convention as- 
sembled in the Lcclurc-room of Pennsylvania Hall. 

Having been called to order, the following oHicers were appointed. 

President. — Mary S. 1'akkk.r, of Boston. 

Vice Presidents. — Maria W. Chapman, Catharine M. Sullivan and Susan 
Paul, of Boston, Mass.; Mary A. W. Johnson, (>f Providence, R. I.; Mar- 
garet Prior and Sarah T. Smith, of New York; Martha W. Siorrs, of Utica, 
N. Y.; Lucretia Molt, of Philadelphia; Mary W. Magill, of Buckingham, 
Pa.; and Sarah M. Cirimke, of Charleston, S. C, 

Secretaries. — Anne W. Weston and Martha V. Rail, of Boston ; Juliana 
A. Tappan, of New York; and Sarah Lewis, of Philadelphia. 

Treiisurer. — Sarah M. Doutrlass, of I'hiladelphia. 

Adjourned to meet in the same place at 4 o'clock, P. M. 

TiESDAV Afternoon, May 15. 

The Convention was called to order at 4 o'clock, P. M. 

The President then read the nineteenth Psalm, and otl'ered prayer. 

On motion, the following persons were appointed a committee to prepare 
business for the Convention : 

Sarah T, Smith, Sarah R. Ingraham, Margaret Dye, Juliana A. Tappan, 
and Martha \V. Storrs, New York; Miriam Hussey, Mtiine ; Louisa 
Whipple, Sew Hampshire ; Lucy N. Dodge, Miriam B. Johnson. ALuia 
W. Chapman, and Catharine M. Sullivan, Massar/nisetts ; Harriet L. 
'J'nicsdell and Waity A. Spencer, lihode hlund; Mary Grew, Sarah M. 
Douglass, Hetty Burr, and Martha Smith, Pennsylvania; Angelina E. G. 
Weld, South Carolina. 

On motion the credentials of the delegates were received and read. 

Resolved, 'I'hat this Convention adjourn to meet at 10 o'clock on Wed- 
nesday morning, at such place as shall be procured by the Business Cora- 
mi iiee. 

Wednesday Morning, ]\Liv 16. 

The Convention was called to order at 10 o'clock, A. M., in the Tempe- 
rance Hall. 

The *J4th Psalm was read by the Piesident, and prayer offered by Mar- 
garet Prior. 

On motion, Sarah Pugh, Elizabeth M. Southard, Mary G. Chapman, and 
Abliy Kelly were appointed a committee to confer with conjmillees from the 
Pennsylvania Slate Anti-Slavery Society, the Requited Labor Convention, 
and the Managers of Pennsylvania Hall, in reference to the arrangements for 
meelmgs during the week. 



ANTI-SLAVKRV COWF-NTIOX (IF AMrUIfAN WOMKN. 129 

On motion, llebecca Pitman, of Rhode Island, and Lucrelia Molt, of 
Pennsylvania, were added to the Uusiness Committee. 

Sarah T. Smith, on behalf of tlie Business Committee, presented letters 
from the Female Anti-Slavery Societies of Salem and Cambridgeport, which 
were read, as follows : 

To tliL- Ami-Slavery Convention of American Women ;— 

Dear Sisters : — We congratulate you on your meeting together again, and would express to 
you our deep thankfulness to Him wiio has permitted you thus to assemble Irom the North and 
frora the South, from the East and from the West. We assure you, dear sisters, we fed at the 
present time more than ever impressed with feelings of gratitude. \Ve are conscious that the 
guidance of llim who has declanrd himself to be the '■ friend of the friendless and the faint," has 
been over you, from the unparalleled success that has crowned all your efforts in the cause ol the 
oppressed. 

We would that we could all be with you — but though we may not sit in your councils, nor lis- 
ten to the words of encouragement as they fall from your lips, yet our hearts shall be with you, 
and in our small measure we will be " constant in prayer" that you may be guided by wisdom 
from on high — that your passions may be under the control of rea.son, and that in the midst of 
your assemblies you may feel the presence of One whose mission on earth was " liberty to tiie 
captive." 

We have remembered that emancipation is not confined to the release of the millions in our 
Southern States who breathe the breath of wretchedness and despair; nor is it limited to the 
thousands in the West Indies who are suffering oppression frora their bntthren's hands — but from 
the .\rctic to the Antarctic — from the Atlantic to the Pacific — wherever the clank of the chain is 
heard, wherever the sigh of the prisoner floats on the air — there does our cause extend, lliere 
must our philanthropy petietrate — and who shall say that we are not laboring for the happiness of 
millions yet to be ! 

For the encf)uragcment of those new converts who may chance to be with you, we would say 
tliat the more wc have been engaged in this glorious work, the more we have felt our hearts in- 
clined to the relief of the •' poor and the needy" and our ears opened to the " cry of those that 
have no helper" — an<l we have been brought to feel more keenly the awful amount of guilt and 
ci'ime with which our earth is filled. 

Surely woman must now arise, in all her dignity and kindliness, to slay the sword of tiie angel 
that is near to avenge the red and the black mans wrongs! 

May the Lord be with you and bless you — may you be strengthened to plan a nobler work than 
ever fell to woman's lot to describe! 

Let your watchword he liberty and Zure, and your banner pure and spotless virtue. May 
you live to see the ap[)r()iich of that day when man shall no more raise his hand against his brother, 
when the lion and the land} shall lie down together, and there shall be none to dig about the walls 
of Jerusalem. "Then shall your light break forth as the morning and your health shall spring 
forth speedily — and your righteousness shall go before you — and the glory of the Lord shall be 
your rereward." 

On behalf of the Salem (Ms.) Female Anti-Slavery Society. 

Your faithful coadjutors in Freedom's cause. 

MAiir Spexceh, Cov. Secretary. 

Extracts from a Letter from the Cambridgeport Female .^nti-Slavery Society. 

To the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women :— 

* * * * • ' — At an Anti-Slavery meeting, a clergyman, who had travelled South, said 
he was forbidden, when there, to preach to slaves : a slaveholder said to him, it is not safe for the 
slaves to be enlightened, he could not permit them to hear the sermon upon the n)ount, and said 
that the precept, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them," 
would open their eyes to their situation, "Therefore 1 forbid you to preach to ihem." This cler- 
gyman observed that they crjuld not be taught the Lord's prayer without witnessing its denial all 
around them. What anavowal is this of the bondage of both master and slave! I'he sern)on 
upon the mount would create insurrection ! Tndy tlie divine aspirations commencing, " Our 
Father who art in heaven," (Ma( Father who hath made of one blood all nations of the earth, and 
commanded all to love as brethren,) are virtually denied. 

We should be unjust to our fe(;lings, did we not take this opportunity to tender our grateful 
tribute of respect and lo%e tothose friends of humatiity. Misses Sarah \L and ,\ngellna E. Grimk^, 
foi- their noble exertions in our vicuiity the past year ; we think many a Felix has trembled, and 
many a jailor, himself in bonds, has cried nut, " What shall I do to be saved r" 

There are those, and the number is neither few nor small, who think that slaveiy is a political 
affair, and women have no concern in it ; but deluded or callous must be that heart which ac- 
knowledges that woman inflicts an injury, but should be powerless in redressing it. _ •' We have 
not so learned Christ !" We think that to woman is committed the precious trust of rearing our 
lawgivers ; as she is pure and elevated, so may she infuse her spirit into the laws of her country ; 
and Heaven grant that politics may not be auother name for corruptirjn. When statesman and 
philanthropist, philanthropist and statesman, are identical terms, th^n may we hope that " righ- 

17 



130 ANTI-?I.AVERV CONVENTION OF AMERICAN \SOMEN. 

teniisiKss V. ill flow down our streets, and prosperity be \»iihin our walls.'' ^faj" the women of 
litis coiin'ry so purge ihvir hearts of all ambitious views, of all selfish iiims, as to be fit and 
hotiored instruments lor doing ibe Lord's work : and to be able to say, " Not unto us. O Lord, 
but to lliv name be glory." May »<_• so li-iirn Christ that, in the spirit of his might, wc may 
" bind up the broken-hearted, pioi-htim liberty to the capti%es, and tlii; opeiiing of the prison to 
them that are bound ; give unto them beauty for asihes. the oil of joy for niourning, the gai'ment 
of praise for the spirit of hea\ iness. " To the ladies of the Anti Slavery Convention we 8uy, may 
God guide your couns*.-ls, and may you do all to his glory. 
On behalf of the Society, 

L. \\iLL\nn, Cor. Secretary. 

On molion of Juliana A. Tappan, 

Resolved, That wliatever nir.y be the sacrifice, antJ whatever other rights 
may be yiekled or denied, we will maintain practically the right of petition, 
until the slave shall go free, or our energies, like Lovejoy's, are paralysed 
in death. 

Jicsolved, Tliat fur every peiiiion rejected by llic National Legislature, 
duriniT their late session, we will endeavor to send ^i-f the present year; 
and that we will not cease our eflorts until the prayers of every woman 
within the sphere of our intluence shall be heard in the halls of Congress on 
this sultject. 

On motion, the business of the Convention was suspended for a short time 
to give instructions to the committee appointed to make arrangements for the 
future meetings. 

On motion of Mary Spencer, 

Jiesolvctl, That we regard the right of petition as dear and inalienable, and 
so far from discovering a dictatorial spirit, it is the refuge of the most hum- 
ble and powerless, and true greatness would never turn away from such 
appeals. 

Maty (Jrew olTercd the following resolution: 

Jf'/irr((ts, 'I'lin disciples of Christ are commanded to have no fellowship 
with the "unfruitfid works of darkness;" and, whereas, union in His church 
is the stronuest expression of fellowship between men; therefore, 

.ffe-?o/r£//. That it is our duty to keep ourselves separate from those churches 
which receive to their ptdpits and their communion tables, those who buy, 
or sell, or hold as properly, the image of the living God. 

This resolution was supported by the mover, I.iucretia Molt, Abby Kellv, 
Maria W. Chapman, Anne W. Weston, Sarah T. Smith, and Sarah Lewis; 
and opposed by Margaret Dye, Margaret Prior, Henrietta Willco.v, Marllia 
W. Siorrs, and Juliana A. Tappan, and was adopted.* 

Adjourned to meet in Pennsylvania Hall, on Thursday morning, May 17ih. 

'I'lU'RSDAY Morning, iNfay 17. 

The Convention was called to order, in the Pennsylvania Hall, at 10 
o'clo.k, A. M. 

A portion of Scripture was read, and prayer offered by the President. 

Lucretia Molt made some iinpressive remarks respecting the riot of the 
preceding evening, and exhorted the members of the Convention to be stead- 
fast and solemn in the prosecution of the business fur which they were 
assembled. 

* Those who votcil in the ncgiativc on the above resolution, fidly concur with their sisters, in 
the belief that slaveholders and their apologias are guilty before God, and that, w ith the lbrm<T, 
Xorthern Chrislians sliouhl hold no telloH ship ; hut as it is their full belief that tliere is still moral 
power sufl'u-.ienl in the church, if rightly applietl, to purify it, they cannot feel it their <lutv to 
withdraw, until the utter inefficscy of the means used shall constrain them to believe the cliiiivh 
t'ltally corrupt. .Martha \V. Storrs, Margaret Trior, Klizabeth .M. .'»onthar<l, Margaret lYre, 
Charlotte Woolnev. 



ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 131 

The following resolutions were then adopted: 

Resolved, That the Anti-Slavery enterprise presents one of the most appro- 
priate fields for the exercise of the influence of woman, and that we pledge 
ourselves, with divine assistance, never to desert the work, while an Ameri- 
can slave groans in bondage. 

Resolved, That every mother is bound by imperative obligations, to in- 
struct her children in the principles of genuine abolition, by teaching them 
the nature and sanctity of human rights, and the claims of the great law of 
love, as binding alike on every member of the human family. 

Resolved, That in view of the unparalleled sufferings of the slave, and 
also in relation to the oppression of the nominally free people of color in the 
United Slates, it becomes us, as women and as Christians, to invoke the 
special aid of Almighty God for the speedy deliverance of this people from 
their oppressors, in that way which will most glorify Himself. 

On motion of Henrietta Willcox, 

Resolved, That in view of the exigencies of the times, and the loud call 
for money to aid in the dissemination of truth, this Convention recommend 
to Female Anti-Slavery Societies to take immediate measures for the forma- 
tion of cent-a-week societies, on the plan proposed by the Executive Com- 
mittee of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 

On motion of Margaret Dye, 

Resolved, That the system of American slavery is contrary to the laws of 
God, and the spirit of true religion, and that the church is deeply implicated 
in this sin, and that it therefore becomes the imperative duty of all her mem- 
bers to petition their ecclesiastical bodies to enter their decided protests 
against it, and exclude slaveholders from their pulpits and communion tables. 

Adjourned to meet in the same place at 4 o'clock, P. M. 

Thursday Afternoon, May 17. 

The Convention was called to order at 4 o'clock, P. M. The President 
read the 6th chapter of 2d Cor., and Sarah M. Grimke offered prayer, 

Sarah T. Smith, on behalf of the Business Committee, presented an ad- 
dress to Anli-Slavery Societies, which was read and adopted, as follows: 

ADDRESS TO ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES. 

Dear Friends: — In that love for our cause which knows not the fear of man, we address 
you, in confidt-nce that our motives will be understood and regarded. We fear not censure from 
you for going beyond the circle which has been drawn around us by \)hysical force, by mental 
usurpation, iDy the usages of ages — not any one of wiiich, can we admit, gives the rigiit to pre- 
scribe it ; else migiit the monarchs of the old world sit firmly on their thrones— the nobilitj- of 
Europe loid it over the man of low degree — the chains we are now seeking to break continue 
riveted on the neck of the slave. Our faith goes not hack to the wigwam of the savage, or to 
the castle of the feudal chief, but would rather soar with ho\)e to that period when '■^ right alone 
sliall make mighV — when the truncheon and the sword shall lie useless — when the intellect and 
the heart shall speak and be obeyed — when " He alone w hose right it is, shall rule and reign in 
the hearts of the children of men." 

We are totil that it is not within the " province of woman," to discuss the subject of slavery ; 
that it is a political question," and we are " stepping out of our sphere," when we take part in its 
discussion. It is not true that it is merely a political question, — it is likewise a question of jus- 
tice, of humanity, of morality, of religion ; a question which, while it involves considerations of 
immense importance to the welfare and prosperity of our country, enters deeply into the home- 
concerns, the every-day feelings of millions of our fellow beings. Whether the laborer shall 
receive the reward of his labor, or be driven daily to unrequited toil — whether he shall walk 
erect in the dignity of conscious manhood, or be reckoned among the beasts which perish — 
whether his bones and sinews shall be his own, or another's — whether his child shall I'eceive the 
protection of its natural guardian, or be ranked among the live-stock of the estate, to be disposed 
of as the caprice or interest of the master may dictate — whether the sun of knowledge shall 
irradiate the hut of the peasant, or the murky cloud of ignorance brood darkly over it — whether 
'• every one shall have liberty to worship God according to tht- dictate s of his own conscience," 



132 ANT1--L\VEKV (ONVLNTlU.N Ol A.MKUICAN WOMKN. 

or man assume the prerogative of Jehovah, anil impiously seek to plant hiiuselt" upon llie thrrnie 
of llie Almiglity ; these considerations are ail involved in the nueslion of liberty or slavery. 

And is a subject comprehending interests of such magnitude, merely a " i>olilical question," 
and one in whicli woman " can take no part vt'ithout losing something of the modesty am! gentle- 
ness which are her most appropr'wte ornaments '" A lay not the '•ornament of a meek and 
quiet spirit" exist w iih an upright mind and enlightened intellect, and must woman nee. ssarily 
be less gentle because her heart is open to the claims of humanity, or less modest because she 
feels for the degradation of her enslaved sisters, and would stretch forth her lianil for their rescue.' 
By the Constitution of the United States, the whole physical (jouer of the North is pledged 
for the suppression of domestic insurrections, and sliouUl the slaves, maddened by opjiression, 
endeavor to shake off the yoke ot the task-master, the men of the North are bound to make 
common cause with the tyrant, and put down, at the jyiint of the bayonet, every effort on the 
part of the slave for the attainment of his freedom. An»l when the fattier, husband, son, and 
brother shall have left their homes to mingle in the unholy warfare, "to become the e.\tcution- 
ers of their brethren, or to fall themselvi-s by their hands," will the mother, wife, daughter, and 
sister feel that they have no interest in this subje-ct? Will it be easy to convince them that it is no 
concern of theii-s, that their hftmes are rendered desf)late, and their habitations the abotles of 
■wi-etchedness.' Surely this consideration is of itself sufficient to arouse tlie slumbering enei-gies 
of woman, for the overthrow of a system which thus threatens to lay in ruins the fabric of her 
domestic happiness ; and she will not be deterred from the jierformance of her duty to herself, 
her family, anil her country, by the cry of "jwlitical qinslion.'' 

But admitting it to be a jwlilical qiieslion, have we no interest in the welfare of our country? 
May we not permit a thought to sti-ay beyoti<l the narrow limits of our ow n family circle, and of 
the present hour .' .May we not breathe a sigh over the miseries ot our country men, nor utter a 
wont of remonstrance ag;iinst the unjust laws that are crushing them to the earth ? .Must we 
witness " the headlong i-age or heedless folly,'' with which our nation is rusliing onward to de- 
struction, an<l not seek to arrest its tlownwarti course ' Shall we silently behold the land wliich 
we love with all the heart-warn) affection of children, rendered a hissing anri a repi-oacti thi-ough- 
ont the world, by this system which is alreaily "tolling the I'eath-bell of her decease among the 
nations .'" No ; the events of the last two years have " cast their dark shadows before." over- 
clouding the bright prospects of the future, and shrouding the destinies of our country in more 
tlian midnight gloom, and we cannot remain inactive. Our country is as dear to us as tottie proud- 
est statesman, and the more closely our hearts cling to " our altars and our homes,'" the more 
fervent are our aspirations that every inhabitant of our land may be protected in his fireside en- 
joyments by just and e-qual laws ; that the foot of the tymnt may no longer invade the domestic 
sanctuary, nor his hanij tear asunder those whom (iod liintselt' lias united by the most holy tics. 
Let our course, then, still bt.- oinvnrd .' Justice, humanity, palriotism. every high and every 
holy motive urge us forward, and we dare not refuse to obey. The way of duty lies open before 
us, and though no pillar of fire be visible to the outward sense, yet an unerrii g light shall illu- 
mine our palliway, guiding us ttiroiigh the sea of persecution and the wilderness cf prejudice and 
error, to the promised land of freedom, where " every man shall sit under his own vine and 
under his own fig-tree, and none shiill make him afraid." 

The numerous small societies, scattered over the various districts of our extended countn", we 
would greet with affectionate interest, with assured lioj>e. 

'riiough you are now only as glimmering lights on the hill tops, few and far between, yet if 
with all diligence these fires be kept burning, the surrounding country shall catch the flame — 
the chains tall from our brethren, and they unite with us in the jubilee song of tlianksgi\ing. To 
bring about this glorious consummation of our hoiK?s, we n.ust be diligent in business, fervent iu 
spirit ; there must be the i>:itient continuance in well doing of those who liave been battling for 
the world's freedom, and wlio have counted nothing too near or loo dear to sacrifice for ll»eir 
brethren in bonds ; there must be an increase of energy and zeal in the many who have enlisted 
in the ranks of the iViends of tVeedom. In joining an .\nti-.SIavery Society, we have set our 
names to no idle pledge. Let not any one member feel released from indi>idnal action ; though 
by association we giiin sti-ength, yet il is strength to be used l)y each individual. The day, the 
hour calls imperatively for " doing with all our might" what our hands find to do; the means 
are various. To some among us may be gi\en the head to ilevise. to others the hand to execute ; 
one may have time lo devote, iinollier money ; let »ach gi^e liberally of that wliich he or she 
possesses. Time, talents, influence, wealth, all are required, all will aiil in the great enterprise. 
L( t eacli one s«-riously inquire how he or she can aviiilingly promote the cause, and in that de- 
jvirtment faithfully work. L<-t the agt-d rounsel, the young execute: plca<l not inability ; we 
much fear that many among us rest satisfied with " the name to live and yet ai-e deail." We 
give in our names as membeint of a societv, pay a small annual subscription, and attend the meet- 
ings ot the »ocii-ly. So fur is well, but much more is nee<le<l for the accomplishment of our 
work. Ignorance yel remains to be enlightened, ppjndice to lie i-emoved, injustice to be over- 
llii-ow n ; and ilaily, almost hniirly, opjiort unities may ofler to exert our strength where it can be 
Availingly applied ; and in ordiT to do this, keep youi-vlvet inlormi-d of every .\nli-Sla^er7 
movement. The editor of the Kmanciiiator says : 

" Other ttiin|f» 1>< inn rqeal, thotr «rr tlic nioit rfflcirnt abolilinniitt wlio »rv the mail intilli(jrnl ; and 
cuiniixmiy. llu mutt gcoti it done in thoic placo wlirrr our books and publicaliuiit arc molt circulalrd 
and rrad." 

Another editor, commmting o«i the above, savs : 

E'cry wuni of thii il irur. Wr know ■ tocirty of I '0 nii'iiih< r«. Fnrtj .our Anti-Slavery papm are 
taken b> tliein, and well cirrulu(rd. The retiiU'ii, it liai lind a ranid liuriHK, il ixrrU • oetiinc m- 



ANTI-SLAVEKV CONVENTION OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 133 

Hucnce on the coramunitj in wliicli it is located, its prospects are most flattering, and no society has 
acted moi-e efficiently in the pelitiou business. We know of another society of foity-six menibi. is, of 
whom only two oi- three take an Anti-Slavery paper. Societies will not act efficiently, they cannot act 
intelligently, they must backslide, if they do not supply tlieiiiselves well with Anti-Slavery publications. 
Is it not a shame, that within the limits of societies niunbeiing forty, sixty, seventy members, but two 
or three numbers of our paper sliould be takt n ? Nay, we have been told of one large society, that not 
only took no Anti-Slavery papers, but had never sent up delegates to our anniversaries, and, in fact, 
knew nothing about them. In the name of comiiion sense, what good does such a society propose to ac- 
complish : A light under a bushel might as well be put out. Organization without effort, is all a 
farce. An artificial skeleton of ilry bones has no \iioie power, than the same bones had before they 
were jointed, wired, and so arranged as to constitutt- a.furin of life." 

The taunting question heard sd long, and so untiringly repeated, " What has the North to do with 
slavery ?" is most triumphantly answered by the practice of any one active, consistent member of 
an Anti-Slavery Society. As " we remember them in bonds as bound with them," we find wc 
have much to do, much even for ourselves. How slowly, yet how surely, do we feel the loosening 
of those bonds of prejudice wherewith we have been bound ; how slow were we to feel the truth 
that all men are indeed " born free and equal ?" How much do we find to do in acting up to this 
doctrine, in our closets, in our families, in our intercourse with the world, and by the wayside 1 
The attentive consideration of what we owe to our culored bretliren, will dispose us to manifest 
our sympathy with them; and to show them by our conduct that we do not consider them as 
strangers and aliens ; that we appreciate their manly struggles for the advancement of their race ; 
and when favorable circumstances permit the escape of any beyond the prescribed length of the 
chain which has bound them, we cannot, we dare not, join in the rude ridicule of the vulgar, the 
sneering contempt of the supercilious, or the mistaken kindness of the benevolent, who say that 
to awaken their sensibilities to their grievances would be cruelty in the e.\treme ; that "where 
ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." VVe see the falhicy of this hackneyed sentiment. Ignorance 
is not bliss — insensibility is not enjoyment. The objector little knows how tightly these fetters of 
caste have been drawn around, how deeply they have scarred their victim ! how bitterly the in- 
justice has been felt ; and the more intensely, as it has been borne in silence, without either the 
6o!ace ofsympatiiy or the hope of relief. 

'J'he education of colored children recommends itself to abolitionists, as the most efficient means 
of raising them from their present despised condition. Many societies have established schools, 
(ought not all to do it?) wherein their younger members cheerfully devote a portion of their leisure 
time to the instruction, not only of the children, but of adults. The eagerness for learnmg manifested 
by most escaped from the house of bondage, their anxiety to improve the intervals of labor in 
acquiring knowledge, is too touching to be unnoticed or disregarded ; it proves that their ignorance 
is not natural stupidity, that their degradation is the work of the oppressor, that the darkness in 
which they have been shrouded is a darkness to be felt. Let us, then, encourage and aid their 
earnest efforts, and though in many instances little can be done towards repairing their deep wrong 
in their own persons, yet we can incite them to provide, by industry, frugality, and enterprise, all 
the blessings of freedom for their children. 

While we thus labor to restore to our colored brethren the rights of which they have been so 
long and so unjustly deprived, let us endeavor to come to the work with pure hearts and clean 
hands. Let us refuse to participate in the guilt of him " who useth his neighbor's service without 
wages, and giveth him not for his work." Whether we are guiltless of such participation while 
we continue to purchase and use the products of unrequited toil, becomes a question of serious 
import, and one which we recommend to your attentive consideration. 

It is not necessary to enter into a labored argument to prove that one of the main props of the 
system of slavery is the price paid by the inhabitants of non-slaveholding states and countries for 
the productions of the states in wh.ch slavery prevails. This is so evident that we presume none 
will dispute It. Considering the fact, then, as admitted, we would ask, what is the slaveholder but 
our agent, holding and using his human chattels for our benefit? and if it be true that " what a man 
does by another, he does himself," are we not partners with him in guilt ? With what consistency, 
then, can we demand that he " undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free," while we 
continue to pay him for retaining tliem in bondage ? 

Oar inconsistency, in this respect, does not escape the vigilant eyes of our opponents. Said a 
slaveholder to an abolitionist, " we make the sugar, and you buy it," thus plainly intimating that if 
they were culpable, we were far from blameless. VVe feel that on this point we have been verily 
guilty, and though the scales are falling from the eyes of many, yet much remains to be done 
among ourselves. And what are the motives that restrain us from acting consistently on this sub- 
ject? Are we unwilling to forego a few sensual gratifications in such a cause ? Will we not 
consent to be somewhat more coarsely clothed, and to deny the palate some of its wonted gratifi- 
cations, rather than contribute to swell the burden of sighs and groans which unceasingly ascend 
from breaking hearts to the throne of Him " who execuieth righteousness and judgment lor all that 
are oppressed ?" 

in presenting to your consideration a few remarks on the subject of peace, we would not be 
understood as wishing to identify the anti-slavery cause with that of peace. We no more desire 
that the A nil-Slavery Society should become a Peace Society, than we wish it to be a Temper- 
ance, Bible, or Missionary Society. We believe that each of these objects may be best promoted 
bt- a distinct organization of its Iriends- Nor have we any intention of discussing the abstract 
question of the lawfulness of war, or the right of using violence in self-defence. We would only 
suggest t.) you, the importance of carefully examining how far abolitionists are restrained from the 
use oisuih methods of defence, by their declaration of sentiments, issued at the time of the forma- 
tion of the American Anti-Slavery Society ; and what the influence of its use would probably 
be upou our cause. From these two positions only, do we feel at liberty to present the 
subject. 

The declaration of sentiments of the Anti-Slavery Convention, assembled in Philadelphia in 



134 ANTI-PLAVERV CO.WKXTION OK A3ILUICAN WOMEN. 

1833, contrasts the principles and mcafures of abolitionists, and iIioec of our revolulionary fathers, 
in the following language : 

" Their principles led them to wage war against their oppressors, ;ind to tpill human Llood, like 
water, in order to be free. Oun luibid the doing of evil that nnid iiia> ci me, and lead U8 to 
reject and (o entreat the oppressed to reject, ihc use of all carnal weapons fur dclivtrancc frnui 
bondage ; relying solely upon those which aru spiritual, and nullity, thiough God, to ihc pulling 
down "f strong holds " 

" Their niuasures were physical resistance— the marshalling in amis — the hostile array — the 
mortal encounter. Ours shall be such only as the opposition oi mora! puri<y to moral corruption — 
the destruciiiin of error by the potency of truth," &c. 

Sentiments, analogous to these, have been incorporated into the cnnslitutions of many Anti- 
Slavery Socieiies, and are s'.ippnsed to be adopted by aboliiiun sis generally. Are we not, by 
them, bound utterly to reject tlie use of weipon.s of physical resistance, in our efTorls to prumote 
the emancipation of the slave ? How far the restriction is applicable to cates nf defence against 
invasion oTtlie personal rights of abolitionists, while acting as si.cli, each much decide for himself. 
Wt regard such a decision of so much iiiipurtance, that we would urj^e upon you a serious reconsi- 
deration of the subject. 

Without entering at all into a di.^^cussion of the right to adopt such measures, we think it may be 
shown that their use would injure rather than aid our cause. In the few instances where the lives 
of aboliiioiiisti have been in immediate peril, has it not been seen that non-rcsistanrc has as etfiJC- 
tually shieldctl the individual, as an opposite course ol conduct, while i: won more honor to liis 
priiiciplei 7 And has it nut in all ages, among all classes of men, been established as a general 
truth, that, while physical strength and violence may be foiled or overcome, uniesibting and for- 
bearing meekness is almost omnipotent in the propagation of truili. 'I'he " wisdom of this world" 
has never understood *• the philosophy of forgiveness." 'I'lic patient endurance of injuries, ihe 
relurnin" of good lor evil, exert an influence on the human soul, so silent that it cannot be be- 
lieved in, uniil It IS felt, and yet so mighty, that it has been compared, by llim who " knew what 
was in mm," to hfapin;; couls of fire on the head. We deem it very desirable and important thai 
so powerful an influence should be enlisted in the anii-jlavery cause. Tlic work that we have to 
perform is an llirculcan task, and we would gladly avail ourselves of all righ.eous means of hast- 
ening its accomplishment. 

Jt IS a universally admitted truth, that opposition strengthens human purpose, unless the judgment 
and conscience are convinced th it the course pursued is wrong or inexpedient. S^uch conviction 
is not produced, is not designed to be produced, by the measures which wo are discussing ; there* 
fore, they unfit the mind for the reception of truth, and the heart for righteous anion. Thus the 
only influence which ilieir use e.\ert3 upon the progress of anti-slavery (irinciples, is deleterious. 
And even if it were admitted that they are sometimes necessary for the preservation of life, are there 
not those who love tlie cause of freedom and of (iod, with an ardor suflicieut to induce them to 
suffer the loss of life, rather than injure the prosperity of that cause ? 

To pursue the discussion ol' this subject farther, would perhaps be to transcend our prescribed 
limits. We earnestly and respectfully commend it to the attention of our fellow laborers, 
especially to that portion of them who believe that Christianity justifies a resort ir) arms for self^ 
preservation. Those who do nut thus believe, of course, need not such arguments as we have 
presented. 

Aware that a disposition to "prove all things," hasever been characieristic of abolitionists, we feel 
assured that by careful study, and fervent praye.', thry will be enabled to choose ri^'ht paths for 
their feet, and that, in the accomplishment of a work upon which Gud has so manifestly set his 
seal of approbation, his servants will not be left unaided by the illuminations of that Holy i>pirit 
who was sent to guide them "into all truth." 

In looking back on the past, have we not much to encourage us to persevere in the work set 
before us? For a long period a solitary voice was heard crying in the wilderness; now there is 
the shouting ol a host. Then was demanded a little more sleep, a little more .■dumber ; now tin re 
is the awakening of the nation ; and though not yet sufficiently aroused to discern friends in those 
wdo have shaken this false rest, yet if we fad not in our duly, ih -re can be no more " folding of the 
h.inds to eleep," but our country will arise and go forth, clothed with majesty and girded with 
power. 

In behalf of the .Anti-Slavery Convention of .\mcrican Women, assembled at Philadelphia. 

Signed by the officers. 

Oil motion of 'I'liaiikful Soulhwick, 

Hesolvfd, Thai ii is the duly of all those who call themselves abolitionists, 
to make tlie ino'it vigorous cjfortu lo procure for the use of tlu-ir families the 
protlucts of free labor, so that iheir haiuls may be clean, in this particular, 
when inquisition i.s matle for blood. 

Esther .Moore made some remarks upon the importance of carryinj^ into 
effect the resoltition.s tlitit had been passed. 

Adjotirned to meet in 'IVMnjierance Hall, on Friday morning, at 9 o'clock. 

This was the last meeting held in Pennsylvania Hall ! Business con- 
nerled with the safety of the buildinir made it necessary for members of the 
Board of .Managers to pass several times tliroiigli the Saloon where this 



AXTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION OF AMEKICAX WOMEN. 1JJ5 

Convention was in session, and a more dignified, calm, and intrepid body 
of persons ihey never saw assembled. Although the building was surrounded 
all day by the mob, who crowded about the doors and at limes even ultempled 
to enter the Saloon, yet they were perfectly collected — unmoved by the 
tiireatening tempest. The cause which they were assembled to promote, 
is one that nerves the soul to deeds of noble daring. The Convention 
adjourned late in the afternoon, when the mob which destroyed the building 
had already begun to assemble. 'J'he doors were blocked up by the crowd, 
and the streets almost impassable from the multitude of " fellows of the 
baser sort." But these " American Women" passed through the whole 
without manifesting any sign of fear, as if conscious of their own greatness 
and of the protecting care of the God of the oppressed. 

The State Anti-Slavery Society, the Requited Labor Convention, and tlie 
Anti-Slavery (Convention of American Women, all held meetings on the 
siib.seqneiit day, according to their adjournments; the latter were in session 
during the whole day, and fininhed their business. But as those meetings 
were not held in Pennsylvania Hall, their proceedings do not form a part 
of the history of that building. 



l:{0 DRiTRUCTION Or Till: MAI. I., 



DESTRUCTION OF THE HALL 



It is witli reluctance we come before ihe public with the story of our 
wrongs. Were we to consult our own feelings, we should draw a veil over 
the disgraceful transactions we are about to disclose. But it is rigiit that 
our fellow citizens should know the true slate of the case. 

It is believed that the destruction of our Hall by a mob is not a true ex- 
ponent of the sentiments of the citizens of Philadelphia ; but that a 
large majority of the legal voters think the Constitutional right to assemble 
together in a peaceable manner and freely to e.xpress our sentiments, should 
be maintained against all mobs, whatever may be the subject under dis- 
cussion. 

Tiie owners of Pennsylvania Hall have been among the Jirst of the 
friends of liberty who have been attacked ; but it is to be feared they will 
not be the last. If this gross outrage shall pass unrebuked, then, indeed, 
may our banks, and churches, and courts of justice, be razed to their found- 
ations. The Council and Senate Chambers, the Hall of Representatives, 
and even the Hall of Lndependence itself, may not be safe. Anarchy 
maj' usurp the place of law, and be succeeded by a fearful despotism. 

But to come directly to the account of the outrage. On Tuesday morning, 
the second day of the Dedication, placards were posted in manuscript about 
the city, 'i'lie following, taken down in the morning, must have been nut 
lip on the preceding evening: 

" Wliercps a convention for tin- .ivowl'iI purpose of t-flVrtiiig the iiiimi-diate aholilion of slavery 
ill the I'liioii is iiou in session in tliis city, it bchoovis all citizins, ^^llo c-nti-rtain a propt-r n-sjitct 
for the right of ]iropcrt_v, and the pi-escrvatioii of the Ct.iistitulion of the Ignited Slates, to inter- 
fere, /ore/ A/ 1/ iflhi-v munt, and pi-eveul tiie violation of thcSL- plt-dj^i's, heretofore held suci-ed. 

" We would therefore pro[)Ose to all pci-sons. so disclosed, to assemhlc at the I'enns; Ivaiiia Hall 
in Oih street, helHeeii Arch and Itace, on toii.oirow morning (\\ednesday Ifith May) at 11 
o'clock, and demand the iiiiniediiite disjiei-sion of said convention. — May I5tli I8.i8." 

We have the originni in pur possession, of which the above is a copy 
lileratiiii el pinictuathii. We have also the original of two other placards, 
one written on the samf kind of paper as that above, and in a hand very 
similar. It was taken ofV an awning jiost in .Market street, on Wednesday 
morning, having probably been put up on Tuesday evening. It appears to 
be written more carelessly than the other : 

" Whereas a Convention for the avowed (lurpose of efT eting the immediate abolition of slavery 
throughout the U. States, is at this time holding its session in I'hiladelphia, it behooves all citizeiif 
entertaining a pi*o|)'-r respect for the right ol pnip'-rtv .ind the Constitution of these states to 
interfere, forcibly if they ntiixt, and prevent the xiolation of [iledges heretofore held sacit-d. 

" We tlierefore pro|K)<»e that all persons so ilis|)Ose<l meet at Pennsylvania Hall on 6th st iR'twem 
Arch and Ituce to-morrow, NX'ednesday .May Itjth and demand the immediate disiKTsion of said 
Convention ; 

Several Citizens. 

The other is in nearly the same language : 

Wh<-rcasa convenlion for the avowed piii-posi' of eflk-ctiiig the immrdiate abolition of slavery 
throughout the United StMtes is at this time holding its session in I'hiladelpliia, it behooves all citi- 
zens who entertain a pi-ojier regard for the right of pioi>erty and the preservation of the Consti- 
tution of this I'nion to interfere /i»rc<i/|/ if llicy must, and prevent the violation of those pledges 
herelolore held sacreil. 

^^'c therefore propose that all persons so disiMwed assemble at the I'enns) Ivania Hall lo-mor- 
IMW, (Wednesday the lOlh May,) at 11 .\. .M., and demand the disjiersifin of said roii\entioii. 

Signed, Several Ciiixeiis. 



■<c:'^ 











^^^::-:^ 




^^^^^BE^^B^^ '^ij^^_^. 


*•>( 



:::^^^ 



^^i 




•-^ii-.N. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE HALL. 137 

We may observe, that if this notice had been written by a Philadelphian, 
he would, in all probability, have said '■'in this city,^'' instead of " in Phi- 
ladelphia.^^ But this is not the only evidence that the mob was managed 
chiefly by strangers from the South, who were for a time enjoying the 
hospitality and privileges of our city. It was undoubtedly "a proper re- 
spect for the right of property" which induced these chivalric gentlemen to 
destroy our Hall, which was our property, honestly purchased from the 
original oioner. Can they say as much of the kind of " property" to which 
they allude I 

In our letter to the Mayor will be found a copy of another placard, very 
similar to the above. It is unnecessary to insert it here. 

The first indications of a disorderly spirit manifested in or about the 
building, were on the evening of the First day of the Dedication, during an 
address on Temperance ; a pane of glass was broken by a stone or other 
missile being thrown against one of the windows. On the morning of the 
16th, — the lime specified in the placards, — there were seen from twenty 
to fifty persons prowling about the doors, examining the gas-pipes, and talk- 
ing in an "incendiary" manner to groups which they collected around them 
in the street. Some of them ventured to hiss during the discussion that 
morning, showing that the spirit of misrule was becoming more rampant. 
These incendiaries, or recruits from the party, continued to hang about the 
Hall through the day, at times crowding into the Anti-Slavery Oflice, and 
creating an excitement by their violent and abusive language. 

The evening meeting of this day was the one addressed by William 
Lloyd Garrison, Angelina E. G. Weld, and others, — the audience number- 
ing more than three thousand persons. In the account of the proceedings of 
that meeting, we have already stated that there was great disturbance. 
Many of the windows were broken, and the congregation were annoyed by 
the constant yelling and hooting of the mob. 

As soon as it was ascertained that a serious attack had commenced, two 
of the Managers went to the police office. The Mayor was not there. The 
person in attendance said that four men had been sent to the Hall, which was 
all the disposable force they had at that lime. 

Between 9 and 10 o'clock, on the morning of the 17th, the mob began to 
assemble again about the Hall. A committee of the Managers immediately 
waited on the Mayor, and informed him that the mob had commenced 
assembling at that time, and delivered to him the following letter: 

Letter from the Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall, to John Swift, Mayor. 

Philadelphia, Fifth month 17th, 1838. 

Esteemed Friend: — Last evening, as the Female Anti-Slavery Society 
were holding a public meeting in the Pennsylvania Hall, situate on Delaware 
Sixth street, between Mulberry and Sassafras streets, whilst Angelina E. 
Grimke Weld, of South Carolina, was addressing the meeting, our house 
was assaulted by a ruthless mob, who broke our windows, alarmed the wo- 
men, and disturbed the meeting very much, by yelling, stamping, and throw- 
ing brick-bats and other missiles through the windows. 

The audience consisted of more than three thousand persons, a majority 
of whom were respectable and intelligent women ! 

In our invitation to ihee to attend the opening of our Hall, dated the 
14ih day of the Fourth month last, we mentioned that we should hold 
public meetings on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of this month. We now beg 
leave to inform thee that ihe Convention of American Women will meet 
in the Saloon of the Pennsylvania Hall, at 10 o'clock this morning, and 
the Free Produce Convention at 2 o'clock; the Convention of American 

18 



133 UESTRVCTION OF TJIE HALL. 

Women at 4 o'clock, P. M., and the Methodist Anti-Slavery Society at 8 
o'clock in the evening. 

To-morrow, tiie Slate Anli-Shivery Society will meet at 8 o'clock ; the 
Free Produce Convention at 10 tt'clock; the Convention of American Wo- 
men will meet at 1 o'clock, P. M.; and the Free Produce Convention will 
meet at 4 o'clock in the afternoon ; and the Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery 
Society will meet at 8 o'clock in the evening ; and we shall continue to use 
our building from time to lime as occasion may require; and we call upon 
thee, as Chief Magistrate of the city, to protect us and our property, in the 
exercise of our constitutional right peaceably to assemble and discuss any 
subject of general interest. Respectfully thine, «$ic. 

Signed, by direction of the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall 
Association. Damel Neall, President. 

1*. S. — We herewith enclose a written placard, numbers of which were 
posted up in various parts of the city, and, so far as we have seen, all ap- 
peared to be in the same hand writing. 

(Copr.-) 
" Whereas, a convention, for the avowed purpose of effecting the imniediMte eroanciiiutioo of 
slaves ihi-ouglicjut the United States,* is at tiiis time holding its session in Philadelphia, it hehoovi-s 
tlie citizens wlio entertain a proper respeet tor the riglit oJ [iroi)ert_v, and the preservation of the 
constitution of the Union, to interfere, forcilily if they must, to prevent tlie violation of tliose 
pled{;es heretofore tield sjicred, and it is itrojiosed tliat thev assemhle at tlie I'ennsvlvania HhII 
lo-morix)w nioming, (^ Wednesday,) iClh -Nlav, and demand the innncd'uite dispersion of said 
convention." 

Our Committee will also furnish thee with the name of one of the ring- 
leaders of the mob.f 

The Mayor replied that he wished to see the Attorney General, " to con- 
sult with him about the law." The Committee asked him, upon what point 
he wanted information? lie answered, "in relation to the damages; lie 
wanted to see whether the county was liable to pay the costs." They told 
him that they had not called to claim daincti^es, but to ask for protection. 
He replied : " There are always two sides to a question — it is public opinion 
makes mobs! — and ninety-nine out of a hundred of those with whom /con- 
verse are against you ;" but he added that he would go there in the evening 
and make a speech, and if that did not answer he could do nothing more! 
'I'he City Solicitor said, he (the Solicitor) gave orders to the police officers 
not to arrest a single man last evening!! 

Fearing that the destruction of the building was meditated, and that no 
eflicient steps would be taken by the Mayor to prevent its being offered a 
sacrifice to propitiate the Demon of Slavery, the following letter was written 
and delivered to the Sheriff: 

Letter from the Managers of the Pennsylvania Hull, to John (i. Wat- 

mough, SheriJ/'. 

PuiLADELrniA, Fifth month 17th, 1838. 

Estefmrd Friend: — Our new and elegant buiUIinsi. which on the second 
day of this week was dedicated to " Liberty and the Rights of Man," known 
by the name of the Pennsylvania Hall, situate on the west side of Delaware 
Sixth street, between Mulberry and Sassafras streets, in the city of Phila- 
delphia, was occupied list evening by the Female Anti-Slavery Society. 
The audience consisteil of more than three thousand person8, of whom a 
large majority were respectable and intcllipcnl women. 

Whilfst Angelina E. (irimke Weld was addressing them, our building was 

♦ The placard read orininHlly, " in the Sonthern iwirtion of the Unile<l Sutes." These words, 
however, weiv cross<d out with the |>€n, *m\ " throtighoiit the United Stale*" inlerlinetl. 
■\ This the Conimitlee ditl, hut whether th<' individual was arrested ^«e knntt not. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE HALL. 139 

assailed by a mob, who broke our windows, alarmed ihe women, and dis- 
turbed the meeting by yelling, stamping, and throwing brick-bats and other 
missiles through the windows. 

In our invitation to ihee to attend the opening of the Hall, dated the 14th 
day of the Fourth month last, we mentioned that we should hold public 
meetings on the 14th, 15lh, and 16th of this month. We now inform thee 
that the Free Produce Convention will meet in that building this afternoon 
at 2 o'clock; the Convention of American Women at 4 o'clock, P. M., and 
the Wesleyan Anti-Slavery Society will meet at 8 o'clock in the evening. 
To-morrow the State Anti-Slavery Society will meet at 8 o'clock, A. M. ; 
the Free Produce Convention at 10 o'clock ; the Anti-Slavery Convention 
of American Women will meet at 1 o'clock, P. M., and the Free Produce 
Convention will meet at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the Pennsylvania 
State Anti-Slavery will meet at 8 o'clock in the evening, — and we shall con- 
tinue to use our building from time to time as occasion may require ; and we 
call upon thee, as High Sheriff of the city and county of Philadelphia, to 
protect us and our property, in the exercise of our constitutional right of 
peaceably assembling and discussing any subject of general interest that 
we, or those to whom we may grant the use of our Hall, may see proper. 
Respectfully thine, «fec. 

Signed by direction of the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall 
Association. Daniel Neall, Chairman. 

To this communication the Sheriff replied, it was the Mayor's business — 
that if he (the Sheriff) had the one hundred and sixty men which the 
Mayor had, he would have suppressed the mob the first night, and thought 
it might yet be done ; but that as for himself, his (the Sheriff's) force con- 
sisted of himself and three men, and what could four men do ? He should 
go there in the evening, and so far as his personal, official, and moral 
influence would go, we should have the full benefit of it — that owing to the 
state of things existing between himself and the Mayor, he did not wish to 
interfere with any thing that belonged to Colonel Swift, &c. 

The committee retired and forthwith convened the Board, and submitted 
the case to them — who thereupon immediately passed the following resolu- 
tion unanimously, and sent it to the Sheriff by the President, who, with- 
out any delay, took it to the Sheriff's office. The Sheriff' was not there. 
He then took it to the Hall, but the Sheriff was not there ; whereupon he 
left it with a friend, to wait at the Hall and deliver it to the Sheriff imme- 
diately upon his arrival, which was done. 

The following is a copy of the resolution above alluded to: 

« At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall, on the l7th of Fifth month, 
1838, to take into consideration the attack of a mob upon their property on the last evening, and 
the threatened attack upon it at the present time, it was 

Resolved, That we cannot undertake to defend the Hall by force ; that, as law-abiding and 
peaceful citizens, we throw ourselves upon the justice of our cause, the laws ol our country, and 
the right guaranteed to us by the Constitution, peaceably to assemble and to discnss any matter 
of general interest; and that we will not have any "immediate or active participation in any mob 
or riot " which may occur. 

Signed by 

Dasiel Neail, President. 

It may be remarked that our communication to him was in writing, and 
any conversation the committee might have had with him was considered 
by the Board as informal. 

Thus passed the whole day without any measures being taken by the 
civil authorities to disperse the rioters and promote order. Our beautiful 
Hall was given up to the tender mercies of pro-slavery incendiaries. It 



140 DESTRUCTION OF THE HALL. 

may noi be improper here to state that before we commenced building, 
the Mayor was iiiiormed of our intentions ; and he boastingly assured us 
lliat "the aboliiioiiisls should never be molested while /<f was Mayor !" 
'J'liis conversation, however, look place before the last gr-neral election. 

At about sunset, the Mayor informed the Pre.'idenl of our Hoard liial he 
voiihl disperse the mob, il he could have jiossession of the buildiiifj; but if 
not, he could not do it — he had not sun'nienl disposable force. 'I'he Presi- 
dent told him, the Managers did not intend to take the responsibility of op- 
posing the civil authority — we did not intend to do any thing that would in- 
jure our claim for indemnity, or relieve the county from responsibility; and 
thereupon directed the door-keeper, in the presence of the Mayor, to deliver 
up the keys to the Mayor, who then made a speech lo the mob, in sub- 
stance as follows : 

Fellow Citizens : — 1 wisli lo jxlilrcss vou a few monienls. I am sorry to pcitcive these dis- 
tiirljiihcfs. but 1 must liopc lliitt iintliiug will |jc tr:ii>s:icti-<l coutnirv to orilci and iK-ace. Our 
city lias loii}; luld the iiivuiblc j>ositi()n ol" a iR-acttuI I'Uy — a city of ordt-r. Il must not lose its 
IMisiiioii. 1 truly lifipc iliat no oiii- will do any thing of a disordLTly niUure ; any Uiing of the kind 
would l)c followed by rojjivt t-vt-r afliT. 

'riKTC \> ill be no nuitinj; laic this evening. This house lias been given up to me. The 
Maiiaj;i IS hud ilii- rijihl to bold their meeting ; but asgood citizens they have, at my request, bus- 
jK'nded their met linj; for this e%eniiig. 

Ue never cult out the military tiere .' We do not nee<l such m«?asurc8. Indeed, I would, iel- 
low citi'/.eiis, Uxjk u[K)n j/ou as my i^o/'Ve .' I lixik u|miii you as my |Kjlice, and 1 trust you will 
abide by the laws, and keep order. 1 now bid jou farewell for the night. 

The mob then gave "three cheers for the Mayor," and soon after com- 
menced the attack. This was done by forcing open the doors, and carrying 
papers and the window-blinds upon the speaker's platform, where they set 
(ire to them, and turning the gas pipes towards the flames thus increased 
their activity, anil in a few hours the building was consumed. 

Il is estimated that 15,000 persons were present at this scene. As was 
to be expected, the inactivity of such a vast concourse of spectators, as well 
as the inefliciency of the magistrates, greatly emboldened the mob ; and 
being stimulated by :hcir success in the destruction of the Hall, they 
were now prepared for further outrages. The next day dawned on such a 
scene as IMiiladelphians were unused to behold. We shall not attempt a de- 
scription. It seemed as if Pandemonium had broken loose. Evening came 
to witness new scenes of violence. The mob attacked and set (ire to a new 
buildinii in 'i'liirteenlh near Callowhill street, intended for the •' JShelter 
for Colored Orphans" — "a charitable institution having no connection ivith 
the .IntiSlavery Society.'" 

'I'he police nmizisirate of the district in which the " Shelter" is located, 
declared that, aliliough personally acquainted with nearly all the inhabitants 
of that district, he did not recognise a single individual of them as engaged 
in the mob which attacked that building. 'I'he mob was composed o/'a/ran- 
gers ! 

On Saturday evening, Hethel church, in Sixth street, belonging to the co- 
lored people, was attacked, and some slight damage sustained. The private 
dwellings of several citizens were also surrounded, and threats of violence 
loudlv made. 'I'he priru-ipal object of hatred, however, appeared to be the 
olhcc o( the Public Ledirer, which paper, although not an abolition paper, 
had been an advocate for free discussion, and had expressed itself in manly 
terms of disapprobation at the l>urnin{;of the Hall. Hut the rioters learning 
that considerable preparations for defence had been made, suddenly lost 
much of their " reijard for the riuhl of properly and the preservation of the 
Constitution of this ( nion." They only assembled about the Ledger of- 



DESTRUCTION OF THE HALL. 141 

fice — poured forth a volley of oaths — and dispersed, — reminding one of the 
couplet, 

"The king of France, with forty thousand men, 
JNIarchcd up tlie iiill — and then marched down again." 

A single fact more, to show the dangerous tendency of mobocracy. 
Some persons think lightly of disturbances of the peace when abolitionists 
only are persecuted. The history of mobs warns against the belief that 
the rioters will be easily checked, or will be satisfied with a single object of 
attack. On Saturday the threats against abolition were beginning to be less fre- 
quent, and the mob began to talk of regulating other matters of public inte- 
rest. It was, therefore, with good reason that the friends of certain institu- 
tions now began to deprecate " great popular movements." One of the 
banks was guarded with armed men. 

The mob, it will be remembered, commenced on Wednesday evening, the 
16lh of May. After it had run its course against abolition, the following 
proclamation was issued : 

2000 Dollars Reward. 

MATon's Office, May 23, 1838. 
The excitement growing out of the daring outrage perpetrated against tlie laws having subsided, 
I take the earliest opportunity of making known to my fellow citizens my determination of adopt- 
ing every means within my power to arrest and bring to trial those who so recklessly defied the 
Law. I, therefore, hereby offer a reward of TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS, for the appre- 
hension and conviction of the vile perpetrator or perpetrators who, on Thursday night last, broke 
mXo and fired the Pennsylvania Hall.* 

JoHif Swift, jyfat/or. 

The account of the outrage had travelled to Harrisburg — the Governor 
had issued his proclamation — and it had been received in this city before 
that of the Mayor made its appearance. They were both published on the 
same day in the papers of this city. The Governor's is as follows : 

PEJVJYSrLV^J\'M, SS. 

In the name and by the Authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

BY JOSEPH RITNER, 

Governor of said Commonwealth. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas T have learned with the deepest regret that the soil of Pennsylvania has been dis- 
graced, the rights of her peaceful citizens outraged, and their property destroyed by acts of law- 
less riot. For the first time the orderly city of Philadelphia has become the theatre of scenes 
heretofore only contemplated at a distance, as dangerous excesses on the part of others. They 
have now been enacted in our midst, and assumed a form the most destructive of propert)' and 
domestic quiet, the most iTiimical to individual rights, and the most ruinous to social harmony and 
public order, that can be conceived. The torch of the incendiary has been applied by unmasked 
violators of law, in the darkness of night, in the heart of a crowded city, and for the avowed pur- 
pose of preventing the exercise of the constitutional and invaluable right of " the free communica- 
tion o!' thouglits and opinions :" 

And whereas, if it be true that "even error of opinion may be tolerated while reason is left free 
to combat it," the practice of combating supposed error with the firebrand, or of punishing eveo 
crime witliout the established process of law, must be the very essence of tyranny : 

And whereas it is the duty of the magistrate to protect all in the exercise of their constitutional 
rights without respect to the question wliether their respective objects be or be not agreeable to 
himself or others, so long as their deportment is peaceful and the object lawful: 

And whereas it is the duty of tlie Governor of this commonwealth,-' to take care that the laws 
be faitlifully executed," especially in cases where enormity transcends the magnitude of common 
guilt : 

Therefore, for the jiurpose of promoting and securing the apprehension of the wrong-doers in the 
premises, I, Joseph Ritner, Governor of the said Commonwealth, do hereby ofter a reward of 
Five Hundred Dollars, for the apprehension and conviction of each and every person engaged in 

* It is pi-oper to state that the italicising in this proclamation is our own. 



142 DESTRUCTION OF THE HALL. 

the bunting of tlie building calleil tlic Pennsylvania Hall, in Sixtli street, in the city of Fliilaikl- 
pliia, on llie ni;;lil of Ttiursday, tlic 17lli insiiint, or in sttting fire to the building called the Or- 
|>liuiis' Asylum, in Tiiirtei.-iilli stni-l, in tlie wid cily, on the ni^'hl of Fi-id;iy, llie I81I1 instant, to 
be |)aid on the due conviction of each and every one of ihe j>ers<Mis aforesaid. 

And all Judges, Justices, SherilTs, Coronei-g, Constables, and other Olticei-s within this Com- 
monwealth, are hen-by required and enjoinetl to be attentive and vigilant in incjuiring after and 
bringing to justice the person or |>ersiHis giiiltv of the crime aforesaid. 

Given under my hand and tin- fireat .S« al of the Statt-, this I uenty- second day of May, in 
the year of oar Lord, one Thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and of the Comnicn- 
veallh the sixty -second. 

By the Goveraor. 

Thomas H. licnHows, 
Sea'etnrt/ of the Coinmonweulth. 

In a few days after the burning of the Ilall the following letter, enclosing 
the sum of one hundred dollars, was received by the Treasurer of the 
" Pennsylvania Hall Association," It was without date, but post-marked 
" Philadelphia, June Glii." Tlie money has been appropriated as di- 
rected. 

''The enclosed sum is intended to aid in flisseminating, among the citizens of PennsyU'ania, cor- 
rect information res])('cting the anti-slavery cause, generally, and particularly what relates to the 
late disgraceful attack uiK)n the right of free discussion bv the mob who burned Pennsvlvani* 
Ilall." 

(Signed) 

" -V P'llIEND or LlBl.nTT AXD IIUMAMTT." 

The following minutes of a meeting of the stockholders of the Association 
show that the course pursued by the Managers of tlie Ilall is approved by 
those whom they represented. 

Philadelphia, Fifth month 30, 1838. 

At a meeting of the stockholders of the " Pennsylvania Mall Association," 
hold this evening in Sandiford Ilall, John Longslrelh was called to the 
chair, and George M. Alsop appoiiittd Secretary. 

The Managers presented a report of their proceedings, together with a 
detailed statement of the course pursued by them in regard to the destruc- 
tion of the Pennsylvania I lall on the night of the 17th inst. Tiie report was 
udopted ; and on motion, 

Jicsoli'cd, 'I'liat this meeting approve of the conduct of the Managers, 
and tiiat the thanks of the stockholders are due, and hereby tendered to 
them, for tiieir indefatigable attention to our interests in the erection of 
the "Pennsylvania Hall," and that we deeply sympathize with them in 
the undeserved trials through which they have passed. 

Resolved, 'i'hat the Managers be requested to continue their attention to 
the subject, and apply to the Court for the damages which they and we have 
sustained, as speedily as practicable, and that when received, after deduct- 
ing all expenses and charges attending the erection of t!ie Hall, that they 
divide the nett proceeds among the stockholders of this Association, rateably 
in proportion to liie stock held by each. 

John Longstketii, Chairman. 

Attest — George M. ,^lsop, Secrclary. 

We now entreat our fellow citizens, for their own sakes, to make a stand 
against the spirit of mol) insolence whose outraijes we have detailed, and 
in asserting our rights protect their own. Wiin were the men who so lately 
assumed the ascendency in this city, and trampled its laws in the dust ? At 
the burning of our Hall, the Saloon contained a ntimber of well-dressed 
men, (it l)eing nearly as light as day,) and yet the ofllcer who ventured 
ainonjT Uiem •* could not discover a single inhabitant of Philadelphia." The 
polite oflicer of Sprini^ Garden bears a similar testimony in relation to those 



DESTRUCTION OF THE HALL. 143 

who attacked the " Shelter for Colored Orphans." Moreover, anonymous 
writers in Southern newspapers, calling themselves Southerners, have de- 
clared that they were present at the scene of destruction, and assisted in the 
work. 

The gross and ridiculous charges brought against us, for the purpose of 
justifying the outrage, have no foundation in truth. We are conscious of no 
act which can be tortured into a departure from prudence or consistency, or 
our duty as citizens, and as men having in common with our fellow-men a 
deep stake in the public welfare and peace. The placards posted up on the 
night of the 14th, were no doubt decided upon (and probably written) be- 
fore a word was said, or any act done at the dedication of the Hall. Indi- 
viduals, who consider themselves respectable, are known to have threatened 
(whilst the building was erecting) that it would be burnt down as soon as it 
was finished. 

We submit this statement to the candid perusal of our fellow citizens. It is 
not for ourselves that we make this appeal. Our building has been destroyed — 
we have already suffered all that we can suffer as the " Pennsylvania 
Hall Association.'''' The damage has been done. Therefore, it is not for 
ourselves, or those whom we have the honor to represent, that we now ap- 
peal to the friends of order and law. It is for the rights of the citizens 
generally, for our country and our country's laws, that we ask them to 
frown down this lawless and evil spirit which is walking abroad, causing 
consternation and alarm to take the place of quiet confidence and security. 

Daniel Neall, Joseph M. Truman, 

Henry Grew, Peter Wright, 

William H. Scott, Samuel Webb, 

Joseph Wood, William Dorsey, 

Thomas Hansell, William M'Kee, 

Caleb Clothier, John H. Cavender, 
Jacob Haars, 

3Ianagers of the Pennsylvania Hall Association, 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 

Immediately after the burning of the Hall, the Executive Committee of 
the Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery Society, for the Eastern District, issued 
the following able and eloquent 

ADDRESS. 

By a resolution adopted at the last session of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery 
Society, during the memorable week just elapsed, the Executive Committee 
of the Eastern District was instructed to address the public in relation to 
the events which led to the adjournment of the Society before the comple- 
tion of the business which had been presented to it. In discharging the 
duly thus laid upon them, the Committee have prepared the following state- 
ment of facts, which, with the comments suggested by them, are commended 
to the careful perusal and attentive consideration of the people of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

In pursuance of a regular call from the Executive Committee, the So- 
ciety was convened in Philadelphia on the 16th inst. at the Pennsylvania 
Hall, a splendid building which had just been added to the architectural 
decorations of our city, and but two days before been opened, and dedi- 
cated to Free Discussion. Our hearts were cheered with the fact, that 
here, in a city where we had so long sought in vain for a convenient place 
in which to plead for the oppressed, and vindicate the rights of the poor, 
men of various opinions on political, religious and moral questions — on 
that of slaverj'' and its proper remedy, among others — had erected a noble 
edifice which was at once an ornament to the city, and a refuge for the 
spirit of Liberty — an arena where mind might freely grapple with mind, 
and, to use the language of Jefferson, even " error of opinion might be 
tolerated, while reason was left free to combat it." We rejoiced, for we 
felt confident that our principles, in the fair field of open argument, must 
triumph and prevail ; and that we needed, therefore, but an opportunity to 
bring them fully before the minds of the people, to ensure the eventual 
approbation and co-operation of all whose favor and aid are truly desirable. 
We had attended the previous meetings of the week, and witnessed the so- 
lemnities of the dedication by which the Hall was consecrated to Freedom, 
and we felt it in our hearts, while we gave thanks to Freedom's God for 
what our ears heard and our eyes saw, to congratulate our fellow citizens 
that they were the first to found a building specially designed for the free 
expression of opinion on every controverted subject. 

Of such events of the week as preceded our meeting, we should say 
nothing, were it not that they are all so closely connected with each other 
and with the final catastrophe, as to render it necessary to the full under- 
standing of the portion more particularly coming under our cognizance as 
the organ of the State Society, that a brief recital should be given. On the 
morning, then, of the 14lh inst., a vast concourse of people of the city 
and adjacent country assembled at the first opening of the newly finished 
Hall, and as soon as the meeting was called to order, the Secretary of the 

19 



1 IG APJ'KNDIX. 

Board of Managers of the building made a concise statement of the purposes 
for which it was erected. Of this statement we here insert a copy. 

" A number of individuals of :tll sects, and tliose of no sect. — of all parties, and those of no 
pa-tv — l>eing desii-ous tliat the citizens of Fhiladelphi:i shouhl i>ossess a itx)m, whei-ein the prin- 
ci|ili-» of Liberty, mid Eqtuility of Civil Rights cnuhl be fivelv discussed, and the evils of sla- 
very fearlessly portravod, have erected this buildiuj;, which ue arc now :i)>out to deilicHte to 
Liberty and the |{i™liis of Man. 'I'he total cost of the building uill be alwit 4 i,0(»() dollars. 
This has been divided into two thousand shares of twenty <lollars each. A majority of the stock- 
holders are nicch^tnics, or woikitkg men, and (as is the case in almost every other good work,) a 
nuniber arc feni:d( s. 

The biiil<liii(» is not to he used for anti-slavery purposes alone. It will be rented from 
time to time, in such portions us shall bi-st suit iijiplicants, for any purpose not of an immoral 
character. It is called '^Pennsylvania Hull,'''' in reference to t!ie principles o' Pennsylvania: 
and our .Motto, like that of the conimonwealih, is " Vibtle, I.,iBEnTr, axu Inulpendexce." 

After the reading of letters from several individuals of note, in different 
parts of the counlry, the dedicatory addre.^s, an eloquent effort of a gifted 
mind, was pronounced by one of our distinguished citizens. His manly 
advocacy of sound principles — even though marred, as we could not but 
think by some remarks near his conclusion, which were inconsistent 
with the main tenor of his discourse, certainly ought not to have rendered 
either him or the place in which he spoke obnoxious to violence. 

The exercises of the afternoon and evening — lyccum addresses and dis- 
cussions, and the advocacy of the cause of temperance by one of our fellow 
citizens, and an eminent champion of that good cause from a sister state, and 
that too, a slavehiddiiig stale, furnished an exemplification of the principles 
of impartial freedom on which the management of the Hall was to be con- 
ducted. On the next day, an appropriate dedicatory poem was recited, co- 
pies of which are already in the hands of hundreds, and may be of hun- 
dreds more, if they choose to procure them, and ascertain whether the 
effiijiion contains any just provocation to outrage. The importance and 
rightfulness of free discussion were then set forth by one speaker, and an 
appeal in behalf of the American Aborigines was made by another. Strange, 
indeed may we well think it, if either of these topics should excite the ire 
of Philadelphians. In the afternoon, the Lyceum again occupied the build- 
ing, and in the evening another champion for free discussion appeared in the 
person of a distinguished mcniber of our state Legislature, and the right of 
petition was maintained by Alvan Stewart, of New York. On the morn- 
ing of the lOih, at eight o'clock, the State Society met, appointed its com- 
mittees, made arrangements for its subsequent sessions, and at ten gave 
way for the commencement of a full and free discussion of slavery, emanci- 
pation, whether immediate or gradual, colonization, and all other topics con- 
nected with these. This discussion had been announced on the previous day, 
and to it had been invited the advocates of every possible variety of senti- 
ment on the subjects mentioned — slaveholders, colonizationists, gradualists, 
immediatists, friends and foes, and neutrals, and middle ground men, if any 
such there are. Could any thing more be reasonably demanded by the most 
strenuous defender of slavery itself, or of any practice or doctrine, which, 
as abolitionists, we oppose ? And is not the measure finally adopted by onr 
opponents, conclusive evidence, under these circumstances, that slavery can 
never endure the light, but nni-t perish under the scorching rays of free 
investigation ; and that the various schemes resorted to for palliating its 
evils, and gradually effecting its abolition, are in the same condemnation ? 

The discussion of Wednesday morning, it is true, was nearly all on one, 
and that on the right side, but it was only because the champions of error 
shrunk from the contest — not because a fair field was not offered them. 

A spcond .session o{ the Stale Society occupied the fir-^t two hours of the 



AUUKt:>o Ul" THi; KXtCUIlVK CO.MMH ItK. 147 

afternoon, and the remainder was devoted, by a very numerous auditory, 
to hearing from Alvan Stewart a calm and dispassionate address on slavery. 

Before proceeding further, it may be proper to fall back in order of 
time, and mention that on the 15ih, a large and highly respectable Anti- 
Slavery Convention of American Women had assembled in the session 
room of the Hall, in pursuance of an adjournment from last spring ; and 
that the occasion had brought together many of the noblest minds, and of 
the best and purest hearts among the women of our country, — minds capa- 
ble of grasping, with prevailing strength, subjects of a magnitude and diffi- 
culty, which masculine vigor would deem it an honor to master, — and hearts 
that, while they could melt and bleed for human wo, could also dare high 
things for the promotion of human happiness, and beat with calm and even 
pulse in the presence of danger encountered in the path of duty, A strong 
desire had been expressed by many in the city, to hear some of these able 
pleaders for the cause of truth and humanity ; and it was arranged that on 
the evening of the 16th, a meeting should be held, at which some of our 
devoted sisters, as well as some of our own sex, should speak for the suf- 
fering and the dumb. Notice was accordingly given to that effect, and the 
name of a daughter of Carolina, too well known to need a repetition here, 
was announced among those of the expected speakers. Before the appointed 
hour had arrived, the large Saloon, capable of containing more than three 
thousand people, was closely and compactly crowded, from the platform to 
the remotest corners of the galleries — every seat filled, every aisle densely 
thronged, every inch of space apparently occupied. It is proper to state 
that this meeting was not under the direction of the Managers of the Hall, 
or of the State Society. 

Threats of violence had been thrown out during the day, but it was hard 
to believe that our hitherto orderly city could be made the theatre of mob- 
outrage, and we had repaired to the place of convocation, trusting that 
these menaces were but idle breath, to which no attempt would be made to 
give a substantial body. Even the written placard, which had been posted 
about the streets, inviting to interference, forcible, if necessary, and call- 
ing for an assemblage at the Hall on Wednesday morning, to " demand the 
immediate dispersion of the Convention," was looked upon, rather as an 
ebullition of the malice, folly, and wickedness of a few, or perhaps a single 
person, than as a cause of alarm for our personal safety, the quiet of our 
meeting, or the tranquillity of the city. The time fixed by the placard for 
an unlawful assemblage, had passed witliout a response to the incendiary 
call, and our confidence in the peaceable disposition of the inhabitants of 
Philadelphia, and their respect for the reputation of their city, had up to 
this time remained unshaken. 

The exercises of the evening were commenced by a short address from 
Wm. L. Garrison, after which Maria W. Chapman was introduced to the 
audience ; but before she could step forward to the desk, a loud yell from 
without proclaimed the presence of a disorderly rabble in the streets, and 
such was the tumult which ensued, augmented by several voices within 
the Hall, that her brief remarks were lost by all except a few of the thou- 
sands present. 

She was followed by our sister from the South, who, with deep solemnity 
of manner, and with words of weight and power, gave her impressive 
testimony against that institution of complicated wickedness, which, as a 
native of a slave state, and long a resident in the midst of slavery, she has 
had such full opportunities for observing, and such ample means of tho- 
roughly understanding. The commotion without still continued, waxing 
louder and more turbulent at each successive shout, and at length the 



148 APPKNUIX. 

crashing of glass mingled wiih the cries of ihe luob, as stones were hurled 
aguinsl ihe windows, on every accessible side of ihe building. Through 
all this wild tumult, the speaker held on her course, undaunted and un- 
moved, availing herself as she went on, of the very circumstances of seem- 
ing discouragement by which she was surrounded, to enforce her appeals, 
and point her arguments, and bring more closely home the truths she ut- 
tered to the understanding and conscience of all who could hear her. These, 
notwithstanding the din and clamor which shut out her voice from many 
eaeerly listening ears, constituted a lar^e portion of the assembly. Short 
addresses were made by two or three others after she had closed ; and at 
the usual hour the meeting was dismissed, and the people quietly dispersed. 
Thus far the rioters were completely defeated in their main design, of break- 
ing up the assembly in confusion ; but it was not for want of violent exer- 
tions on their part. By cries of fire, by yells and screams, and a variety of 
appalling sounds — by making occasionally a tumultuous rush, as if to break 
furiously into the saloon, they endeavored to terrify the congregation, and 
effect its precipitate dispersion; but though two or three limes, in the earlier 
part of the disturbance, a momentary alarm overspread the house, and 
brought many to their feet as if to leave, yet under the efforts of the friends 
of order, this soon subsided, and at length the steady calmness and cool 
composure of the speakers seemed to have diffusei! itself extensively among 
the audience, and tranquillized its brief agitation. Most resumed their seats, 
and comparatively few retired before the dismission of the meeting. 

Wiiile the assembly was retiring, and after it had completely dispersed, 
the mob in a dense mass still occupied the streets, and discharged several 
volleys of stones at the windows. A number of colored persons, as they 
came out, were brutally assaulted, and one, at least, was severely injured. 
During the riotous proceedings of this evening, several constables, as we 
are credibly informed, were on the ground, but under express orders from 
the City Solicitor to attempt no arrests. 

How long the lawless concourse remained together, we are unable to 
say ; but when the meeting of Thursday morning was convened, the building 
was surrounded by groups of persons, whose appearance and conversation 
indicated no good intentions or peaceable designs. This assemblage, 
fluctuating, doubtless, and changing more or less in its constituent parts as 
some retired and others supplied their places, continued to hold its station 
through the whole day, but without attempting any outrage, or doing more 
than to offer occasional insults to some of those who were passing to and 
from the meetings within. 

'i'he session room was occupied at eight in the morning, by a convention 
which had been called to devise means for the encouragement of requited 
labor ; and at ten the Convention of American Women assembled in the 
Saldon. The same Conventions met in the Saloon in the afternoon — one 
at two o'clock and the other at four; the session of the latter continuing until 
about sunset. The evening was to have been occupied by a public meeting 
of the Wesleyan Anfi-Slavery Society of the M. E. Church of Philadelphia, 
at which a preacher of that denomination, distinguished for his able advocacy 
of human rights, was expected to speak. 

The Board of Managers of the Hall had deemed it their duty, in the 
morning of this day, to communicate to the Mayor of the city, and the 
Sheriff of the county, information of the preceding evening's outrage, and of 
the arrangement for the c(uning afternoon and evening meetings as « ell as 
of those expected on the subsequent days of the week ; and to call on these 
officers for that protection which their official obligations required them to 
render. The communications lo which we allude, have alrtadv been made 



ADDRESS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 149 

public by llie Board of Managers, together with the replies of the Mayor 
and Sherifi', the latter of whom slated that all the force he had at command 
consisted of three men, with whom of course he cou'd do nothing, but that 
his personal, official, and moral influence should be exerted for the suppres- 
sion of disorder ; while the former promised to go and make a speech to the 
mob, but said he could do nothing more. It should not be forgotten that 
this is the same man, who, last year, at a time when no mob was in ex- 
istence, upon the bare appreliension that a meeting of one of the political 
parties, called to convene in Independence Square and express opinions 
unfavorable to the banks, might result in riotous conduct which would 
endanger the properly of those corporations, took vigorous measures of 
prevention ; pulling ihe police in readiness for prompt action, and even, if 
we are correctly informed, placing the military under arms, and stationing 
ihem in such points as it was conjectured might require their presence for 
the maintenance of tranquillity. We mention this fact, as an evidence of 
what are the Mayor's own notions of his duty when the peace of the city 
is supposed to be in peril. 

To return to our narrative. As the day rolled on, the indications of approach- 
ing violence became more and more alarming — the crowd around the de- 
voted building grew more dense and more excited ; busy agents of mis- 
chief were passing from group to group, circulating falsehoods and calum- 
nies against the abolitionists, and inflaming passions which even now needed 
allaying; citizens of other slates, slaveholders actual and slaveholders expec- 
tant, mingled in the mass, to leaven it yet more thoroughly with a spirit of 
reckless desperation, and increase its already over-abundant fermentation 
and effervescence ; while, so far as we could discern, little or nothing was 
done by those whose official duty was the preservation of peace, to avert the 
coming storm. On the contrary we have strong reasons for believing that 
the previous course of the Mayor had a tendency to encourage violence, and 
invite aggression upon the rights of a portion of his constituents. 

Some of these reasons will appear as we proceed. Nor is it the least 
painful circumstance in connection with these transactions, that men of 
standing and respectability, substantial merchants, and influential citizens, 
so far from expressing their decided and heart-felt abhonence of the threat- 
ened outrage, and exerting their influence to calm the excitement, to main- 
tain inviolate the rights of their fellow citizens, and preserve unsullied the 
reputation of their -city, either looked on in cold indifference, or, as was in 
many instances the case, expressed both in language and action their une- 
quivocal approbation and encouragement. 

A few minutes before the appointed hour of the evening meeting, several 
persons repaired to the Hall for the purpose of attending it, but found the 
door closed and locked. It was soon ascertained that the Mayor had re- 
quested of the Board of Managers, the keys of the building, promising if 
they were given into his possession, that he would take upon himself the 
responsibility of protecting the building, which otherwise he said he could 
not do, and that the Managers had complied wilh his request. Of course 
all idea of holding the intended meeting was abandoned. But the mob did 
not abandon their design. 

The Mayor, according to his morning promise, appeared in front of the 
building, and made them a speech — in which he expressed the hope that 
nothing of a disorderly nature would be done, stated that the house 
had been given up to him for the night, and that there would be no meet- 
ing, that he relied on them as his police, and trusted they would abide by the 
laws and keep order ; and then concluded by wishing them good evening 



i;)(| AVl'l.SDlX. 

'I'fie mob responded with '• three cheers for the Mayor," and lie withdrew, 
leaving them neither dispersed nor pacified. 

It is understood that the Mayor subsequently returned, but it was then 
loo late for an efficient exertion of his antiiority. 'l"he rioteis iiad commenced 
their work. 'J'he cis litrhls in front of the Hall were extinguished, and an 
impetuous onset made, lirst upon the north and then upon the eastern side. 
The Sherilf's elforts, as every one must have anticipated in such cir- 
cumstances, were of no avail, and his call on the miscellaneous crowd for 
thai assistance, which on other occasions would probably have been 
ensured bv ellicient measures beforehand, was equally unsuccessful. After 
some strenuous, but fruitless efforts, therefore, to stem the swelling torrent, 
he also withdrew, and the object of attack was left wholly at the mercy of 
the passion-maddened, and doubtless rum-inflamed assailants. From the 
cries with which they cheered each other on, it was manifest that they 
regarded the city autiiorities as willing, if not desirous that the work of 
destruction should proceed. The tale of what followed we need not recite 
at length. It has already been written in ruddy crimson on the clouds of 
heaven, and been read by the thronging thousands of the astonished city, 
in the unnatural glare which reddened the darkness of that terrific night. 
Encouraging each other with loud shouts, they rushed to the assault — 
shattered the windows, and battered furiously at the doors, the strength of 
which for nearly twenty minutes resisted the attack, but at length gave way, 
and left free access to the interior. Then came the plunder of the book 
depository and the scattering of its contents among the crowd — the flash of 
the lighted torch along the deserted aisles — the heaping of light combustibles 
on the speaker's forum, and firing the pile — the wrenching of the gas pipes 
from their places, and adding their quickly kindled current to the rising 
flames — the shout which greeted the outbursting conflagration, as it rolled 
upward along the walls, and roared and crackled in the fresh night breeze, 
while the motto of the beautiful Hall, " Virtue, Liberty and Independence," 
shone clearly for a moment in the dazzling light, and was then eflaced for 
ever — the fientl-like cry which went upward as the roof fell in, a blazing 
ruin — and smouldering and blackened walls alone remained, in place of 
the costly and splendid edifice. 

The fire companies with their engines had come early upon the ground, 
but not a drop of water was thrown upon the Hall, tdl its destruction was 
ensured beyond possibility of prevention. Till then, the firemen confined 
their efl'orts to preserving the surrounding buildings, and such of their 
number as were disposed to play upon the object of attack, were prevented 
from doing so by the mob. 

On the morning of the 18lh, at 8 o'clock, the members of the State 
Society agreeably to adjournment, mel together by the ruins of the Hall. 
'I'hcre, with the smoking walls above them, and traces of the destruction 
arovmd them, they proceeded to business. One of the Vice-Presidents of the 
Society presided. A motion was made and carried to adjourn to Sandiford 
Hall, where the resolution was passed, authorising the publication of this 
address in the name of the Society. As the Hall was too small to contain 
even the meml)«'rs of the vSociety, and as at such a crisis, it was deemed 
important that our meetings, if held at all, should be public, and open to 
the community, the Society adjourned to meet at such time and place as the 
Executive I'ommiitee might decide upon hereafter. The committees which 
had been appointed at a previous meeting were continued. 

'I'he foregiMng is, we feel assured, a faithful presentation of the facts 
connected with this outrage. We now ask our fellow citizens, what action 
i« required at the hands of freemen and lovers of order, and law ? Men 



ADDRESS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. If)! 

high iti authority have manifested an unholy sympathy with the prejudices 
and passions of the mob — the chosen guardians of the public peace, have 
manifestly yielded to tlie popular clamor — and suffered their authority to 
be made the sport and ridicule of lawless men. Ought we to be — can we 
be instrumental in retaining men in office, who have thus proved unworthy 
of their trust — and left the property of the citizens a prey to violence. Are 
not all who love right and approve just law and desire peace and good 
order, bound to withhold, in every form, their support and their suffrages 
from every applicant for public favor or official stations, who will not ex- 
plicitly avow his disapprobation of the recent lawless proceedings, and his 
determination to uphold the supremacy of the law, and to maintain, so far 
as in him lies, without regard to the popularity or unpopularity of the right, 
or of its exercise, or its possessor, every right of every portion of the 
people ? 

We pause not now to notice in detail the many and gross calumnies 
against us which have been industriously circulated throughout this com- 
munity. Suffice it for us to declare that of those which have reached our 
ears not one is warranted by unexaggerated truth. The voice of that 
truth is now lost in the hurricane of popular tumult. But, we feel conscious 
that in the hour of reflection and calm consideration which must follow the 
present excitement, — when reason shall assert its prerogative over pre- 
judice and passion, — that justice will be awarded us by all upon whose 
good opinion we place a value. Possessing our souls in patience we abide 
our time. Strong in our own integrity and uprightness in this matter, 
with unaccusing consciences, and regretting only our lack of zeal and 
energy heretofore in the cause of holy liberty, we feel ourselves called by 
the events of the past week to renewed and more efficient efforts. Not in 
vain, we trust, has the persecution fallen upon us. Fresher and purer for 
its fiery baptism the cause lives in our hearts. We now know and feel 
our responsibilities. Called, even in our weakness, to stand forth as the 
asserters and defenders of freedom in the place and hour of her extremes! 
peril, woe unto us if we falter through the fear of man! If, shrinking from 
a manifest call of duty, we yield up great principles a sacrifice to popular 
fury, — if to save life and property we offer up all that can make the one 
tolerable or the other useful, we commit a crime against God and humanity, 
which words cannot measure. Were we to yield a single principle at this 
crisis the voice of a world's execration would justly brand us as traitors 
TO Liberty. 

Citizens of Pennsylvania ! your rights as well as ours have been violated 
in this dreadful outrage. The blow has been aimed at the universal rights 
of man! The sacrifice of a beautiful temple dedicated to liberty, and 
bearing the motto of our state, "Virtue, Liberty and Independence," 
has been made to Southern Slavery — to a system whose advocates 
unblushingly declare that the laborer should every ivhere, at the North as 
well as the South, in Pennsylvania as well as in Carolina, be made the 
property of the employer and capitalist. In the heart of your free city — 
within view of the Hall of Independence, whose spire and roof reddened 
in the flame of the sacrifice — the deed has been done, — and the shout which 
greeted the falling ruin was the shout of Slavery over the grave of Liberty. 
It was such as greeted the ear of the Russian despot over the dead 
corses and smouldering ruins of conquered Warsaw — such as the Turkish 
tyrant heard amidst the ghastly horrors of Scio. We ask of you as men 
jealous of your own rights, and your own liberties, to reflect upon the 
inevitable consequences which must follow the toleration of such an out- 
rage. If you have studied the history of past republics, you have not yet 



APPEXPIX. 



lo learn ilial ilie sacrifice of the riglils of a part of the communiiy has 
ended in liie ensslavemenl of all. 'i'he rights of the individual have never 
been disretrarded by any nation or people with impunity. It is an ordi- 
nance of Providence that, tliat community which violates its own principles 
for the purpose of depriving any of its members of their acknowledged 
riKhis, digs in so doing the grave of its own liberties. We appeal to you 
not for our own sakes, but for the sake of great principles whose preservation 
18 as neressary to yourselves as to us. We ask you to look at the scenes 
whifli for the la^^t few years have disgraced our country in the eyes of the 
world, and rendered insecure the rights of the citizen, all tending to one 
resuli — all having a common object — the suppression of free inquiry on 
a subject which of ail others should be open to freemen — the subject of 
Human Rights. Call to ujind the presses destroyed — the churches broken 
open — the family altars profaned by violence — the bloody scenes of Alton 
and St. Louis — the scourging of a freeman in the streets of rsashville — 
the imprisonment of Crandall in our Nation's Capitol — the thousand mobs, 
in short, which have usurped the authority of law — ^justified and sustained 
by n\ei\ of high inlluence, and virtually countenanced by the sworn guardians 
of the public weal. Look to the Halls of Legislation — to the thrice repeat- 
ed violation of the Constitution of the United Slates by Congress itself — 
the denial of the right of petition — the infamous resolutions of Southern 
Legislatures addressed to those of the free states, calling for the enact- 
ment of laws for!)idding under pains and penalties all discussion on the 
subject of the rights of man ! Are these matters of light importance ? Are 
Pennsylvaiiians prepared lo yield up their dearest rights to perpetuate a 
system which cannot live in connection with the free exercise of those 
righu-i — which shrinks from the liglit — which is safe only in darkness — 
which howls in agony at the first sunljcam of truth that touches it / ^^ ill 
they allow it to overstep its legal boundary and trample on the free insti- 
tutions of Pennsylvania ? To smite down the majesty o{ our law — to hunt 
after the lives of our citizens — to shake its bloody hands in defiance of our 
rights within sight of the Hall of Independence, and over the graves of 
I-'ranklin and Rush and Morris ? — No ! The old spirit of Pennsylvania 
yet lives along her noble rivers — and the fastnesses of her mountains are 
still the homes of Liberty. To that spirit we appeal in conlidence and in 
hope. 

Our principles as abolitionists have often been proclaimed in the ear of 
llie peo|)le, and may be known to all men. That they are wickedly misre- 
presented, and lo a great exttiiil misunderstood, is therefore not our fault. 
We deplore the fai i, but know of no way to avoid its repetition. If an 
earnest and solemn reiteration of the truths we believe and seek to dissemi- 
nate, can convince our fellow citizens of the sincerity of our belief and 
ihe Binglencss of our purpose, this shall not be wanting. But when it is 
demanded of us to relinqui>h principles which we believe to be founded 
in everlasting truth, and which liave been embraced under a solemn sense 
of responsibility to our fellow men, our country, and our God, we liare not 
obey the call. Standing up, in the Divine I'rovidence, between the living 
and the dead, we should be false to our trust it we abandoned our position. 
We would not willingly ouiraije public sentiment; but if a firm ailherence 
In the True and the Kmlu, and an untiring advocacy of the principles upon 
which rational liberty is based, mil down the vengeance of the populace upon 
our heads, we throw the responsil)iliiy of violated law where it belongs — 
upon that corruption of the pubjir heart which is the certain result of a 
de|)arture from the political faith of the fathers of our land, and an unmanly 
Bubarrviem-y to the Demon of .Vmeru-an Slavery. 



ADDRESS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 153 

The existence and the inalienability of human rights, we believe and 
maintain. Is there moral treason in this? Were Thomas Jefferson and 
his compatriots guilty of treason when they declared that "all men are 
created equal, and endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain inalien- 
able rights, among which are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness?" 
Were the founders and the fathers of this commonwealth insane and 
fanatical when they acted out this great truth, the utterance of which has 
been as an earthquake to shake down the tyrant and the despot from their 
thrones? Is our Bill of Rights a splendid fiction, and were those who 
framed it fools? Perhaps it is too much to expect that amid the excite- 
ment of the present hour, men will look back to long acknowledged truths 
with a willingness to perceive their importance, and act in accordance 
with them; but we are persuaded that when the tempest, which is now 
raging, shall be overpast, as it soon will be, a recurrence to first principles 
will show, even to our present persecutors, that we are right — that we have 
acted in accordance with the Constitution of our common land, and have 
violated no law, human or divine. 

Constitutions and laws may protect, but they do not bestow human 
RIGHTS. These are incident to, and inseparable from human nature. 
They are the gift of God to man. They are indissolubly connected with 
our duties, and he who presumptuously interferes with one, does violence 
to the other. The will of our Heavenly Father has been manifested in their 
bestowal, and he, therefore, who attempts to wrest them away, tramples 
upon that will, and wars against God. 

American Slavery does this. In robbing man of personal ownership, 
and branding him before earth and Heaven as a piece of mere merchandise, 
it at once degrades human nature, and insults Jehovah. Its claim upon 
man is an outrage upon his Maker. Its very existence is a sin against 
God, which should be immediately repented of, and for ever abandoned. 
The South, itself, admits that if our premise be correct, our conclusion is 
irresistible. But the slaveholder has taken the ground that slavery is not 
a sin. Here, then, we are at issue. All that we ask is a full and candid 
hearing before our country and the world, and we fear not for the result. 
For the wicked casuistry of some of our Northern moralists, who admit that 
slaveholding is in itself a sin, yet contend that its immediate abandonment 
would be a greater sin, we have less respect than for the bolder and more 
consistent course of those who contend that it is an institution of Divine ap- 
pointment, baptized by the teachings of Christ, and i-ecognised as sacred by 
the Apostles. 

But it is objected that whatever be the moral complexion of slavery, 
separated from it as we are by geographical boundaries we have nothing to 
do with it — that whatever may be the sufferings of the slave, or the pollu- 
tions of the system, it is no concern of ours. No concern of ours ! As if 
we were not of woman born, and could not feel for human wo. As if 
we were not American citizens, jealous for the honor of our common coun- 
try ! As if slavery, with its hot and fetid breath, was not blighting and 
withering our dearest hopes and our fairest prospects ; with iron foot tram- 
pling upon liberty in her own home; and, with hand of sacrilege, staining 
the altars of freedom with the blood of her murdered martyrs ! As if we 
felt not the requirements of God bound upon our consciences, and responsi- 
bilities from Him laid upon us which we cannot shake off! American 
Slavery is a concern of ours; for we are American citizens. Our country 
is weakened in its mental, its moral, and its physical power, by the exist- 
ence of slavery. This, alone, has rendered us a hissing and a by-word 
among the nations of the earth. It is a stain upon our escutcheon — a 

20 



1^4 APPFSDIX. 

pla^e-spot upon our national reputation. It is a sin, and a curse, and a 
shame ; and we can cease to be partakers in the iniquity only by faithfully 
rebuking it, and laboring for its overthrow. That benevolence which is 
bounded by caste or couiplexion, is not the benevolence of Christ. TIk; 
fellowship which would leave our neighbor in his sin unwarned, is a 
fflhiwship abhorrent to God. " 'I'hou shall in any wise rebuke ihy neigh- 
bor, and not sulTer sin upon him," is an injuiunion of Holy Writ which it 
becomes us to obey. In obedience to it, and to the voice of humanity 
pleading for the trampled and the poor, we have labored for the redeuipiiou 
of the slave from his bonds, and our country from its deadliest curse. 
We have labored from a solemn conviction of duty. From the same con- 
viction, deepened by the events of the past week, we shall ccmtinue to toil. 
If we are heretics, ours is a heresy which cannot be burned out of us by 
fire. With a ealm reliance upon God for justice to our principles, our 
motives, and our measures, we shall go forward in the arduous work we 
have begun; not, indeed, as reckless bravers of public opinion, but as men 
fearing G<id rather than man, and having the assurance that our principles 
will ultimately triumph over violence and prejudice and error. We labor 
not for ourselves alone, but for the best and highest earthly interests of 
those whose hand is lifted against us — for our land, and l\ir llic world — for 
the great interests of humanily universally. 

It may be proper for us to notice one charge which has been urged 
against us, as furnishing an excuse for the violence of the mob. We are 
accused of allowing our colored fellow-citizens to sit without molestation in 
dillVront parts of the Saloon : — in other words, oi having no particular place 
or gallery aj^signed to colored men and women. We freely admit this ; we 
should have been false to our principles if we had refused to admit men of 
every sect, rank, and color, on terms of equality, to witness our proceed- 
ings. In so doine, we have but acted in accordance with the sentiments of 
the old fathers of Pennsylvania freedom, as expressed in the Emancipa- 
lion act of 1780. 

" It is not for us to inquire why, in the creation of mankind, the inhabi- 
tants of the several parts of the earth were distinguished by a ditl'erence 
in feature or complexion. It is stifllcient to know that all are the work 
of an Almighty hand. We find in the distribution of the human species, 
that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth are inhabited 
by men of complexions dillVrent from ours, and from each oilier; from 
whence we may reasonably, as well as religiously, infer, that he who placed 
them in iheir virions situations, hath extended equally his care at)d protection 
lo all, and that it bccometh not us to counteract his mercies." — (See Eman- 
cipation arf of 1780.) 

It has been allc-jcd too, that it is part of the design of abolitionists to 
promote intermarriages between the whiles and colored peoj)le ; and the false 
■nd absurd charge f)f advocating amalgamatioti, has been u^ed perhaps more 
eirectiKilly than any other, in exciting and arraying against us the passions, 
prejudice, ami fury of the mob. Tliis charge has been so often denied, 
and from its first presentation has st(»od so entirely on the bare assertion of 
our calumniators, unsupported by proof, that nothing but its vociferous 
reiteration at the present time, and its injurious inlluence on the minds of 
the ignorant and misinformed, would induce us again to allude to it, aa we 
now do, for the purpose of once more recording against it our explicit 
denial. The real amalgamators are not the abolitionists, but the slave- 
holderi* of the South. What they falsely accuse us of recommendiug to 
be done with the sanctions of morality and law, they shamelessly /jroc/i.^e 
under circumstances of the grossest immorality. Were all the slave children 



AUDRKSS OF TliF EXECUTIVK (JUMMITTEK. 155 

of the South to follow the condition of their fathers, a work of gradual 
emancipation would be going on more rapidly, and slavery would be in 
greater danger of speedy annihilation, than many at the North imagine. 

To one other accusation we will briefly allude. It has been currently 
reported, that one of the speakers at the Hall pronounced Washington 
a thief and a robber. The assertion is utterly false. The only allusion 
made to Washington, during the whole course of the exercises, was one 
which was couched in terms of eulogy. He was mentioned as having 
enrolled his own name among the enemies of slavery, and with the solemnity 
of a dying testimony, in the form of a will, emancipating his slaves, to 
have set the seal of his condemnation upon the iniquitous system. 

Such are our principles, and such the feelings that have impelled, and 
still impel us onward. We have no secret nor ulterior views. We shrink 
not from the scrutiny of our fellow-men. Nay, we invite that scrutiny. We 
court investigation, satisfied that it will result in the ditTusion of truths 
which we hold dear, and the advancement of the cause of outraged hu- 
manity. 

If it be inquired of us what course we mean to pursue in this time of 
our trial, our answer is brief. We shall move onward in the right line of 
duty, persevering in the promulgation and defence of those righteous prin- 
ciples which we have ever upheld, confining ourselves, as we ever have 
done, to the exertion of moral power, and the use of peaceful means. We 
shall plead with renewed and still increasing energy, the cause of the down- 
trodden poor, acknowledging in our practice, as well as our words, the 
universal brotherhood of man, and that we believe, what almost z\\ profess, 
that "all men are created equal" in rights, and that those rights are in- 
alienable. We are well aware that the worldly-wise would recommend a 
temporising expediency — a pause in our exertions — a bending to the storm, 
till its fury be overpast. The rhetoric may be fine which enforces such 
counsel, with similes of the reed rising after the blast, and the rigid oak 
shivered and prostrated for its obstinacy; but the policy it recommends we 
utterly repudiate. The yielding reed may rise, but it bends again at the 
next gust. Wiio would lean on it for support? Who would rely on it as 
a prop to his feeble steps? The pliancy which saves it, proves it not worth 
saving. No I — never let this supple plant which seeks safety by tamely 
bowing before violence, be the emblem of the Anti-Slavery cause or its ad- 
vocates. Let them be rather like the rock-rooted oak which gathers fresh 
strength from its resistance to the tempest, and, never bending till it breaks, 
continues to give support to tliose who recline against it, as long as it can 
sustain itself. Are we told of the events of the past week, and warned of the 
future? Our answer is ready. We should be craven and recreant indeed, if, 
when not our own rights alone, but those of the enslaved millions of our 
sinful land, — of the millions yet to be born to an inheritance of degradation 
and oppression, or of liberty and honor, according as we succeed or fail, 
are depending on the issue of our moral enterprise, we should tremble 
and falter, and shrink from the contest as soon as it waxes warm, and 
thickens with difficulty, and toil, and peril. Are we pointed to the smoking 
ruins of that beautiful Temple of Freedom, which we fondly hoped would 
long have echoed the noble and free sentiments of a Franklin, a Rush, a 
Benezet, a Lay, and as we look sadly on its early downfall, are we bidden 
to learn hence the fate of our own dwellings, if we persevere? Think not 
the intimation will drive us from our post. No ! rather will we gather in 
handfuls, the yet warm ashes of the ruined edifice, and cast them toward 
heaven, that they may come down in boils and blains upon the monster 



156 AlllCMJlX. 

Slavery, ealing wiili causlFc energy to his very vitals, and coiisuining his 
life-blooil with what he had vainly deemed should be his nourishment. We 
shall go on then, calmly but lirmly. Our work is too holy, too great, too 
inlimaielv inwoven with all that we hold dear for ourselves, or value for 
our ffllowmen, or desire for our posterity, to be li^jhtly abandoned at the 
appearance of dilhculty, or timidly given over at the approach of danger. 
We feel that (iod has called us to this work, and if it is his purpose that 
we should finish what we have begun, he can preserve us, though it be as 
in the lion's den, or the seven-fold healed furnace ; — that he will deliver us 
out of every danger, and uphold us by Ilis free Spirit, until all is accom- 
pliithed that he has given us to do. If he has otherwise ordained, and de- 
signs to permit the wicked to triumph for a little season, and the witnesses 
for his truth to l)e slain in the streets of our city, we shall have at least the 
satisfaction of reflecting that we fall in the post of duty, with our wounds 
in the breast and not the back; and that he whose work we are doing can 
raife up other laborers to reap the rich harvest whose seed we have sown, 
and whose growth our blood will have nourished. 
Signed on behalf of the Society, 

Dasikl Nkall, Samiel Webb, 

Pktkr Wriomt, Lewis Beebe, 

Wm. H. Scott, Abm, L. Fennock, 

James Woon, Joseph M. Trlman, 

Wm. Harned, Lewis C. Gu.nn, 

Wm. a. Garrigues, 

Executive CommiUec. 
/'htUulelp/iia, May 22d, 1838. 



No. II. 

The Philadelphia Lyceum subsequently rescinded their resolution found 
on page 30; but not in time to allow their proceedings to be inserted in 
the order of time in which they occurred. That the reader may have an 
idea of the nature of those exercises we give the following as a specimen: 



ESSAY 

ON THE PHYSICAL EDICATION OF CHILDREN. BV J. L. PEIRCE, M. D. 

Were we to examine the whole catalogue of subjects which have claimed 
the attention of m:iiikind from the earliest date at which paper possessed 
the migir charm of receiving and communicating the thoughts of others, 
we Hhould find none of such vital impt)rtance to us, as animated beings, as 
that which we are about to consider. The physical education of children 
seems, by an almost universal consent, to have been entirely neglected. 
The intellect alone has claimed allenlion, while that portion of the system, 
upon whose healthy organization and developoment the strength and vigor 
of ihe intellect depends, has been entirely disregarded. It is my intention, 
in the present essay, to point out some of the fundamental errors in the 
present mode of education, and to show the importance and advantages re- 



ESSAY, BY J, L. PEIRCE, M. D. 157 

suiting from a rational and philosophical course, which may be in accord- 
ance with the principles upon which our bodies are constituted. 

The physical education of children should commence with the very com- 
mencement of their existence. Pure and fresh air is as necessary to the for- 
mation and arterialization of their blood, as it is of those of more mature years; 
but how little is this generally considered. We might suppose from the 
great care which is often manifested to prevent the least ingress of it into 
the apartment of the young infant, that the functions of their lungs wag 
different from our own, and that that atmosphere which nature had provided 
for the nourishment and support of the rest of her animated creation, was 
not suited to their organization ; that man was wiser than his Creator in 
the adaptation of means to their end; and that, consequently, an atmosphere 
rendered impure by oft-repeated exhalation and admixture with one of 
the most deleterious gases, was more suited to their nourishment and 
support than the pure air which nature had provided for the purpose. This, 
however, is not the case. Oxygen is the great vivifying and purifying 
principle of the blood ; and is as requisite for the healthy respiration of 
infants, as of adults. And inasmuch as the Creator of the universe has so 
constituted the atmosphere that it bears a suitable relation to the organiza- 
tion of our lungs, so as to promote their healthy action and the vigor of 
the whole system; and inasmuch as her laws in relation to the physical 
stntcttire cannot be violated with impunity, any more than they can in re- 
lation to any other portion of her works, — it, therefore, follows that, in 
proportion as we deprive children of a free and healthy respiration, we lay 
the foundation of disease by preventing the due formation of that vital 
principle, of which all portions of the system are constituted. Hence I 
wish it to be considered as an established maxim never to be departed from, 
that pure air is absolutely essential to the perfect developement of the con- 
stitution from the earliest periods of infancy. 

Another fundamental error in the physical education of children, and one 
Avhich increases with the increase of civilization and refinement, arises 
from the natural fondness of parents for their offspring, and their mistaken 
notions of kindness and duty in relation to them. They naturally watch 
every budding of the intellect, and feel desirous of hastening its develope- 
ment; and, either ignorant of the laws which govern our physical organi- 
zation, or, regardless of their requirements, they use every exertion to 
expand the swelling bud and develope its beauties and its fragrance before 
the plant shall have become sufficiently matured for the purpose. They 
seem to think that the mind has a separate existence from the body, and 
that its cultivation and improvement can be carried to any extent without 
any reference to the physical organization through which all its operations 
are manifested. This, however, is a mistaken notion. Mind and matter 
are most intimately connected, and in proportion as the brain, which is the 
organ of the mind, becomes diseased, will be the disturbance of our mental 
operations. It seems to me useless, in this enlightened day, to adduce 
proof to substantiate this position ; but, if proof be wanting, I will refer to 
cases of sickness, where, the moment the brain becomes affected, reason 
abdicates her throne, and wild delirium assumes the command over all of 
the faculties of the mind; or in cases of accidents or of surgical operations, 
where any and every portion of the body, not immediately essential to 
vitality, is oft-times removed without injury to the mental faculties, so 
long as the brain remains in a sound and healthy condition, but the moment 
you disturb its organization and destroy its texture, that moment the de- 
pendence of the mind upon it becomes established beyond a possibility of 
doubt. The cases of idiots might also be adduced as a further confirmation 



J 58 AJ'i'LNUIX. 

of our posiiion. In them, we find ihe whole of the physical organization 
perfecl, except the head — and here the doctrine of phrenologists is most 
inconiestibly confirmed in the deficiency of that portion of the brain in 
which are located tlie intellectual and reasoning faculties. Hence we find 
that a sound and perfect brain is absolutely essential to a sound and vigor- 
ous mind; and, in proj)ortion as the former is diseased or injured, so the 
manifestations of the latter will be likewise impaired. 

But another highly imporiaiit function of the brain is, that of its being 
the source of the nervous inlluence of the whole body. Tliis, however, is 
entirely distinct from its intellectual duties, though equally dependant on 
iti healihv and vigorous action. I icill to raise my arm, and it obeys me; 
I will to put it down again, and it is likewise performed. The will emanates 
from the brain ; the nerves, which are the messengers of the brain, carry 
iis commands to the muscles, and these, if in a healthy condition, execute 
them by means of their contractile power. But, supposing the one-half of 
a person's body to be under the effects of palsy, the will may issue its 
commands, but, in consequence of the paralyzed condition of the brain, it 
cannot exert that nervous infiuence which acts as a stimulus, and is absolutely 
necessary for the performance of the required motion. Such is likewise 
the case with a person who is intoxicated, or who is under the infiuence of 
a narcotic; — the nervous energy ol the brain is, in both instances, impaired ; 
so that, although he may ivill to do, yet the infiuence of the brain is not 
eufilcient to enable him to put his will into execution. 

Hence we perceive the necessity of ascertaining the laws by which the 
brain and mind are governed; for if these laws are infringed, we cannot ex- 
pect their emanations to be of a healthy character. 

One of the laws, then, — the observance of which we shall state as being es- 
sential to the due developementand subsequent vigor of the mental faculties, — 
relates to \.\\c proper exercise of the organ from which these faculties ema- 
nate. There is the greatest conceivable difference between the dcvelopement 
of a mental faculty, and the developemcnt of the physical organ upon which 
all of the mental faculties depend. In other words, there is a vast difi'erence 
between cultivating the mind of a child by initialing him into the ruiiiments 
of the various sciences, — teaching him the difierent classics, — leading him 
into the intricate mazes of the mathematical sluilics, — causing him to commit 
to memory abstract |)ropositions which he cannot understanil, and requiring 
of him a stretch of the imaginative powers to grasp the whole of nature's 
works and scrutinize the cause of all her varied operations : I say there is 
a vast difiVrence between thus improving the mind or cultivating the intel- 
lect of a child, and simplv promoting the growth and consolidation of that 
organ, the brain, upon the strength and perfection of which, not only the 
hruUh and life of the child, but also the permancncjj of these very faculties 
themselves di^pcnd. For the brain is a portion of our physical frame, and 
is consequently subject to the same physical laws by which the rest of it is 
governed. And, if we examine these laws, we shall find that a due degree 
of exorcise is essential to liie growth and developemcnt of every portion of 
the body. By means of it the blood circulates more freely throughout the 
whole system, the respiration is more efficient, the powers of digestion are 
more active, the process of absorption and nutrition is rendered more vigor- 
ous, muscle, bone, sinew, and nerve, become formed of better materials 
and ol a larger size, and the strength and energy of everv portion of it are 
prop<»rtionally increased. Thus our every day observation teaches us that 
the muscles of the arms of a blacksmith, or of a bricklayer, or of a carpen- 
ter, arc of much larger dimensions than those of a gentleman, so called, who 
has been brought uj) in the lap of indolence, and eaten of the bread of idle- 



ESSAY, BY J. L. PEIRCE, M, D. 159 

ness ; and the same observation may be made respecting the lower limbs of 
a farmer, or of any other person in whom these members of the body are 
greatly exercised. And similar observations may be made respecting the 
bony fabric of the system. The peculiar office or function of all these 
various portions of our bodies is to administer to our physical necessities. 
But we should be careful not to carry the duties required of them beyond 
certain limits, and particularly before they shall have arrived at the full period 
of (levelopement ; for if the muscles of a lad, who is rapidly running up into 
manhood, are unduly exercised, instead of that exercise administering to 
the tone and strength of the muscular fibre, it has an opposite effect, and 
the individual becomes weakened and emaciated. And if we pursue the 
practice so generally, though erroneousl}^ adopted, of causing an infant to 
walk before the bones of the limbs and lower portion of the body become 
thoroughly converted from their cartilaginous to a bony stale, we injure 
the frame-work of the system, and produce a permanent deformity, which, 
in many instances, is productive of the utmost mischief in subsequent years. 
But it is not in bones to think, nor irr muscles to reason ; and inasmuch as 
it is the intellectual and reflective faculties which constitute man as a 
superior order of being, any injury resulting to the former may be regarded 
as of little importance in comparison with an injury of that organ from 
which emanates the nervous energy of the whole body as well as all of the 
manifestations of the mind. But, inasmuch as the brain is a two-fold organ, 
an organ which executes the double function of adniinstering to both mind 
and matter, it seems necessary for us to study it in its two-fold character, 
and ascertain the laws by which it is controlled in each of its operations. 

Now we may lay it down, as an established maxim, that unless the brain 
is in a healthy condition, its emanations must also be of an unhealthy cha- 
racter: those pertaining to the physical system must be deficient in nervous 
energy, and those relating to the intellectual faculties must be incapable of 
imparting that vigor, strength, and durability to the mental operations 
which we all so earnestly covet. We should likewise consider that there 
are two kinds of exercise requisite to stimulate the different functions of the 
brain; — the one for its physical organization, the other for its intellectual 
developement. 

The brain itself, as we have before observed, is a portion of the physical 
structure of the body, and, as such, is subject to the same laws as govern the 
rest of our corporeal frame. Exercise, fresh air, an efficient respiration, and 
proper arterialization of the blood, a suitable diet and perfect digestion, are 
as essential for its growth and perfection, as for that of any other portion 
of the body. Another kind of exercise, we have also remarked, is likewise 
essential for the proper developement of the intellectual faculties ; and this 
exercise is of a mental character, the stimulus of the mental operations. 
Now it has become a well established point in Phrenology that mental ex- 
ercise has the effect, not only of improving the intellectual faculties, but 
also of enlarging the various portions of the brain itself; it is, therefore, to 
a certain extent, highly salutary ; but, if carried beyond its proper limits, 
injurious consequences must ensue, as we have already shown to be likewise 
the case with the muscular or osseous portions of our frame when they are 
unduly exercised. Each mental efibrt drives to the brain a certain quantity 
of blood. If this effort be very intense in its character, or if it be long 
continued, or oft-repeated, the accumulation of blood must produce a partial 
congestion, or a degree of irritation, which lays the foundation of innume- 
rable diseases in subsequent years, of both a mental and physical character. 
We may, I am fully aware, produce by such means a wonderful temporary 
increase of mental power, such as is calculated to excite the fond hopes of 



I i;0 AHPI'.NDIX. 

the iduiizin^ parent, and -strike wiih amazement the astonished spectator. 
Thev behohl in the child a living proditfv ; but they consider not that his 
acquirements are unnatural, and have been obtained in violation of the organic 
laws which have been in.-iiiuted for the health and preservation of his body 
and the formation and devclopement of his mind. His brain has been 
stimulated beyond what it was capable of sustaining, and a reaction must 
sooner or later ensue; — for the laws of nature are immutable and cannot be 
violated with impunity. 

These remarks, it will be remembered, are designed particularly for the 
early periods of existence, when the organization of the brain is in a de- 
licate and imperftctiy developed condition, and wlien it is consequently 
incapable of susiaininif any great intellectual elforts. 

In this sentiment I am supported by some of the ablest writers upon the 
educaiiiin »)f young children. The (lisiini;uishc-d Hufelar.d, physician to the 
King of Prussia, in his valuable work on the art of prolonging life, observes, 
'• Intellectual effort, in the first years of life, is very injurious. All labor 
of the mind which is required of children before their seventh year, is in 
opposition to the laws of nature, and will prove injurious to the organiza- 
tion and prevent its proper developement." 

Tissot, a very al)le physician, sjjcaks thus: " Long continued application 
in infancy, destroys life; I have seen young children of great mental activity, 
who manifested a passion for learning far above their age, and I foresaw, 
with grief, the fate that awaited them. They commenced their career as 
prodigies, and finished by becoming persons of very weak minds. The 
age of infancy is consecrated by nature to those exercises whirh fortify and 
strengthen the body, and not to study, which enfeebles and prevents its pro- 
per increase and developement." And again he says, " of ten infants des- 
tined for different vocations, I should prefer that the one who is to study 
through life should be the least learned at the age of twelve." 

Having thus endeavored in a hasty manner to point out some of the inju- 
rious etTccls resulting from early intellectual efforts of a character unsuited 
to the years of infancy, I will next brielly advert to the course that should 
be pursued in the education of children in order to avoid the evils refer- 
ed to. 

In the first place, particular pains should be taken with their physical 
education from the earliest period of their existence. The growth and 
strength of the body should constitute our first concern ; and after this is 
lully attained, we shall have less cause to apprehend danger from any men- 
tal ap[)lication. Instead, therefore, of sending children to school for the 
purpose of acquiring a knowledL^^ of the alphabet, or of any abstract or 
inetiiphyMcal science; or to be initiated into the principles of the classifica- 
tion ol any of the natural sciences, howevi-r simply they may be arranged, 
or however clearly they may be illustrated ; or to acquire a knowledge of 
any subject reijuiring any considerable mental application, we should let 
these be of secondary consideration, and devote our whole attention to the 
consolidation «)f that structure upon whose healthy condition depends all 
their future prospects of happiness to themselves, and of usefulness to their 
felU)w beings. Upon this subject. Dr. .Spnrzheim, in his essay upon the 
elementary principles of education, very aptly remarks : " .Many parents 
anxiously strive to cultivate the intellect'of their children, and neglect to for- 
tify their constitution. They belive that children cannot too soon learn to 
read and write, and they therefore oblige them to remain many hours in 
Bcliool. breathing an impure air, while they ought to be developing the or- 
gans of the body by exercise. The more delicate the children are. and the 
more their affections and mimls are precociou?, the more important is it that 



ESSAY, BY J. L. PEIRCE, M. D. 161 

this error should be avoided : — if it is not, premature death is often the con- 
sequence of this infraction of the laws of nature. 'Die mind ought never to 
be cultivated at the expense of the body, and physical education ought to 
precede that of intellect, and then proceed simultaneously with it, without 
cultivating one faculty to the neglect of others ; for health is the base, and 
instruction the ornament of education." 

Upon this same subject Paulding remarks: " Knowledge should only keep 
pace with the natural growth of the human faculties. When I see a little 
urchin, who ought to be enjoying nature's holiday, and strengthening his 
constitution by wholesome exercise, to enable him to bear the vicissitudes of 
the world in after times, kidnapped and sent to school to sit on a bench for 
four or five hours together, employed in learning by rote what he is unable to 
comprehend, I cannot help contemplating him as the slave and the vic- 
tim of the vanity of the parent, and of the folly of the teacher. Such a sys- 
tem is only calculated to lay a foundation for disease and decrepitude, to 
stint the physical and intellectual growth, and to produce a premature old 
age of body and of mind." 

But we may be asked whether we would permit children to grow up in 
ignorance and habits of idleness until they shall have arrived at a period of 
life when either physical or mental application would be at least irksome, 
if not impracticable. I answer, by no means. I'he great book of nature 
is always open before them, and from it they can acquire more useful and 
practical information than from all the schools in the universe as they are 
generally conducted. Ignorant of what? I would ask. Of a knowledge 
of letters and of words, which, in nine cases out of ten, convey to their 
minds no definite ideas. They spend two, three, or four years to acquire by 
hard toil, and very frequently with a feeling of disgust, what, in more ad- 
vanced years, may be acquired in six months, without the risk of that dis- 
taste for schools and science which effectually prevents many of them for 
ever from making any considerable progress in their studies. But instead 
of requiring of them to learn from books, let them acquire knowledge from 
the works of nature and of art, which are every where thickly spread around 
them. In this manner their mental faculties can be most profitably culti- 
vated without any particular intellectual effort, while, at the same time, 
their physical powers will be strengthened, and they will be gradually pre- 
pared to endure the future hardships of life. In this manner, (to adopt the 
language of a French writer,) they will arrive at the seventh year without 
suspecting that they have been made to learn any thing; they will not have 
distinguished between study and recreation; all they know they will have 
learned freely, voluntarily, and always in play ; — and the advantages ob- 
tained by this course will be good health, grace, agility, gaiety, and happi- 
ness ; a character frank and generous ; a memory properly exercised ; a 
sound judgment and a cultivated mind. 

But we have often been asked how we would dispose of the children of 
that hard-working industrious portion of the community, residing in our 
cities and thickly populated villages, who have to earn a subsistence for 
their families away from their own homes, and who can extend no care over 
their offspring from morning to night — whether we would suffer them to be 
running wild throughout the whole day, engaged in the various scenes of 
danger, vice, and crime, with which our cities abound ? We would reply, 
most certainly not. 

Places of resort should be provided for such children, where they could be 
suitably taken care of, with every means requisite for their amusement and re- 
creation, but devoid of the evils attendant upon our schools as usually con- 
ducted. Our infant schools may be referred to by some, as answering the 

21 



152 AITIM'IX. 

purpose which we have in vitw. Hut we regrel to say, that after having 
repeaUMlly visited tliem, to witness their exercises and the principles upon 
wliich ihcy were conducted, we must entirely disunite with the sentiment, 
th:it thev are at all calculated to obviate the objections which we have de- 
signated. The exercises performed in them, are almost exclusively of an 
intellectual chararter, and not at all suited to the capacities of those lor 
whom they are desii^ncd. Were 1 required to give my views respecting 
the exercises suitable for such an occasion, I am not aware that 1 could 
do better than to quote from a former essay upon the same subject, which 
has already been piesenlcd to the public. 

In the first place, suital)le buildings should be provided, in healthy, airy 
situations, similar to those recently erected by the controllers of our public 
schools, for the institutions under their care. Such of the rooms as may 
be appropriated for the purpose, should be provided with benches adapted 
to the various sizes of the children, with the seats of a height corresponding 
to their lower limbs, and with barks of an easy construction, liy this 
means, many diseases of the limbs, chest, and spinal culumn, would be 
avoided, which owe their origin to the ill-constructed benches of our 
schools. 

As we design our infant department more particularly as a place of safety, 
where the physical powers may be duly exercised and developed, rather 
than for the cultivation of the intellectual faculties, all exercises designed to 
operate particularly upon the latter should be made entirely subservient to 
the former. .Such physical performances, therefore, as are calculated to 
devcloj)e and strengthen the human frame, and suited to the age, strength, 
and agility of the children, should receive the first consideration. For this 
purpose we would have one or more rooms furnished with such gymnastic 
apparatus as may be considered requisite, and, under the superintendence 
of suitable teachers, or care-lakers, these recreations should frequently alter- 
nate with such others as may be directed. A portion of the apparatus should 
consist of mere instruments of play or amusement ; while others should be 
of a higher order, calculated to bring into active exercise the various mus- 
cles of the body. Other apartments should be furnished with every pro- 
duction of nature and art which would be at all suitable for the occasion. 
The various branches of trade, and the dillcrent kinijdoms of the earth, should 
each be made to yield its cpiota, so that every school-house should be a mu- 
seum of the most useful and interesting oi)jects which could be collected to- 
gether from the four quarters of the globe. These we would have con- 
stantly presented to the view of the children in the most familiar manner. 
In the junior department, the children shoidd be made acquainted with their 
names and their most common qualities and uses, not by any particular in- 
tellectual ellort, but by the exercise of their external senses upon them. 
The teacher selected for such a station should have a mind well stored with 
interesting Imlo anecdotes, connected with the names, the qualities, the 
properties and the uses of the articles under consideration, and which should 
be narrated in the most familiar and interesting style, at all times avoiding 
lerms or expressions unsuited to the intelligence of the children. As they 
advance in years and intellect, they should also advance to the higher de- 
partments of the school, where they should be made acquainted with new 
properties of the same objects, and where new objects shoidd also be pre- 
nentcd to ihrir consideration — not in the form of tasks or lessons, but alto 
gcther as amubenienls. From simple articles they should proceed to those 
more complex in their character, adapted to their increasing power of per- 
ception and observation. For instance — let them witness the operation of 
the manufacture of cotton fabrics, from the change of the raw material in its 



ESSAY, BY J. I,. PEIRCE, M. D. 1 Gli 

growiiiff or pod state, tliroiigh its various processes, until it is converted into 
tlie wearing apparel. And this should be exhibited to them, not in our 
large manufacturing establishments where no distinct ideas coidd be ob- 
tained respecting it, but on a small scale in their own school-room. Nei- 
ther wouhl we have them to witness the whole operation in one, two, or 
even three weeks, but their minds should become familiar with each suc- 
cessive stage, prior to their making a further advancement. So likewise in 
regard to the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms ; — make them ac- 
quainted, first, with the substance themselves ; then, with their different 
parts, and ultimately with their respective properties and uses, as far as 
they will admit of familiar illustration. Call their attention to the pecu- 
liarities of each, and to their general external characters. But as regards 
the particular zone of the earth where they are produced, or the particular 
climate or country whence they are obtained, or the class, order, genera, &c., 
to which they belong, (which subjects, with many others of like nature, 
composed a large portion of the exercises which we witnessed at one of 
our infant schools,) we must express our entire disapproval of any such un- 
intelligible performances. That they are not only unproductive of the least 
benefit, but, on the contrary, that they have an injurious tendency upon the 
physical and intellectual developement of those subjected to them, we have 
not the shadow of a doubt. 

In addition to the above, there is also an exercise which has recently been 
introduced into many of our schools, under the name of calysthenics ; which 
we consider to be very beneficial in its character upon the physical structure 
of the human frame, and calls into action the various muscles more effec- 
tually than any other method with which we are acquainted. This serves par- 
ticularly well for children of more advanced years, whose physical and in- 
tellectual developements are sufficiently mature to render the usual forms of 
instruction proper and advantageous. In all such schools, exercise should, 
at regular intervals, be blended with the studies, and by allowing ten minutes 
for the purpose at the expiration of each hour, the benefits resulting from it 
would be fully obvious in the removal or entire avoidance of those feelings 
of lassitude, headach, listlessness, and other uncomfortable sensations 
which render the studies irksome, and the mind incapable of applying itself 
to them with any real advantage. During such intervals of relaxation, the 
kind of exercise referred to serves as an innocent and healthy recreation ; 
while, at the same time, it gives grace to motion, and imparts the first prin- 
ciples of systematic instruction in the most pleasing manner in which it can 
be communicated. 

Having thus submitted to your consideration the general outlines of a 
plan for the physical education of children, which, we have endeavored to 
show, should receive our first attention, inasmuch as it lays the foundation 
of a healthy constitution, and of all permanent intellectual acquirements, 
and having extended our views to the acquisition of that kind of knowledge 
which is suitable for the expanding intellect of the young and tender infant, 
we shall close our remarks with a few hints upon the proper mode of instil- 
ling into their minds, practical lessons of morality, which will make an im- 
pression never to be eradicated, and which will be of far greater utility to 
them than the perusal of all the discourses which have been delivered upon 
the subject from the creation of the world to the present time. For, what 
season, I would ask, is so appropriate lor inculcating the principles of love 
and aifection, as when children are mingling together in the sportive recre- 
ations of youthful innocence ? What advice is so effectual as that which 
is delivered on a suitable occasion, at the impulse of the moment? What 
opportunity so fit for instilling into their minds the principles of justice 



101 ArPKNDIX. 

and viriue and benevolence, as when iheir feelings of regard for each other 
and each other's rights are excited into active exercise ? And what moment 
so suitable for pre:*entini; to ibeir view the baneful effects of improper con- 
duct, whether it consist of unkiiidncss to each otiier, or of deceit, of 
fnlsfliood, or of ihell, as when some one of ilieir companions has been 
guilty of one of these olfences ? Their feelings will become tendered on the 
occasion, and while they learn to di-test the committal of a wrong, they will 
be taught to pity the individual who thus suffers on account ot it. 



Di'sides the above essay, two others, written by females, were read bv 
the Secrciary, — one on " Temale Decision of Character," and the other on 
" Hhetoric." Answers to questions proposed at a previous meeting were 
then read as follows : 

1. "Jf'hat is the cause of Euril.<iuitkcs? — Kefurred to Lvuia Cil- 

LIXOHA.M. 

AxswKR. — As earthquakes are the most formidable ministers ofnaUire, it 
is not to be wondeted at, that a multitude of writers have been industriously 
engaged in their consideration, and it would be tedious to give all the 
various opinions that have employed the speculative on this subject. So 
dreadful have been their appearances, that men's terrors have adiled new 
horrors to the scene, and they have regarded as prodigies that which we on 
a more tranriuil investigation shall find are produced by verv obvious and 
natural causes. Hut in the present state of jioological knowledge, it is not to 
be expected that any theory which can be proposed will account for every 
circumstance connected with this phenomenon of nature. 
^ There are many circumstances which indicate such a connection between 
Eariluiuakes and Volcanos, as may warrant the conclusion that they de- 
pend upon the same general cause. Both these phenomena are manifestly 
owing to the agency of subterranean heat; but there is this difference be- 
tween them, the fury of the Volcano is spent in the erujuion. that of the 
Eartliquake spreads wide and acts more fatally by beintj confined. The 
Volcano only ainights a province. Earthquakes' have laid whole kingdoms 
in ruin. Volcanic eruptions of lava in a state of igneous fusion, of red hot 
stones and ashes, and of columns of steam, atlord sullicient evidence of the 
very high temperature that must subsist in the interior of the earth. Many 
instances minhi be adduced of the groat quantities of lava emitted by some 
\ olcanos, proving the existence of an immense mass of igneous matter under 
the surface of the earth ; when this mass is disturbed, as by the admission 
of water, an Earthquake is the consequence, and this becomes more or less 
disastrous according to the decree of internal commotion. If, then. Earth- 
quakes and Volcanos depend on the same causes, the source of these phe- 
nomena iniiHi be very deeply seated below the earth's surface ; for, though 
\ olcanos might be regarded as confined to certain localities, the action of 
Larlhquakcs seems to be almost unlimited, since these concussions of the 
surface have been felt over nearlv half the globe. Volcanos, therefore, may 
be considered as safety-valves by means of which some portions of the sub- 
stances in fusion, which form the internal mass, escape from time to time, 
with violence, to flow over the .surface of the soil, and the Earthquakes are 
diinims bed in force, or ce.ase entirely because the internal pressure is thus 
relieved. Irom all which has been adduced on this subject, we cannot but 
concluilc. that the phenomena of Earthquakes and VoUanos indicate the 



LYCEUM EXERCISES. 165 

existence of an ocean of melted lava, constantly existing at an unknown 
depth under the surface of the earth, and that these phenomena may, in 
most of their varieties, be accounted for by such an hypothesis, and by no 
other which has yet been proposed. It is, therefore, reasonable to infer that 
such a mass of igneous matter does actually exist. 

2. " What is the origin of those Meteoric Stones which have fallen to 
the earth, at various periods of time since the creation? — Referred to 
Mary R. Wetherald. 

Answer. — Most persons are familiar with the history of what has been 
called Atmospheric or Meteoric Stones ; their origin, however, is still a 
mystery. 

Various theories have been formed on this subject, as on most others 
about which there is any uncertainty. Some learned men maintain that 
they are the smaller fragments of a large celestial body which once existed 
between Mars and Jupiter, (and from whose larger portions the planets 
Ceres, Vesta, Juno, and Pallas were formed;) and that when the particles 
thus detached arrived within the sphere of the earth's attraction, they re- 
volve] round that body at different distances, and fell upon its surface in 
consequence of a diminution of their centrifugal force ; or being struck by 
the electric fluid, they are precipitatated on the earth, and exhibit all those 
phenomena which usually accompany the descent of Meteoric Stones. 

According to a French philosopher, igneous mountains were in ancient 
times endued with mighty force ; and it appears not at all improbable to him, 
tliat from the said mountains masses of matter were propelled from an 
immense depth, to such a height as to perform spiral circumgyrations 
somewhere within the limits of our planetary system, till in the course of 
ages they came to pop down and take their rest on the surface of mother 
earth. 

Some suppose that they are generated in our own atmosphere by some 
chemical action ; but this is an assumption repugnant to every principle of 
science. 

Others think that they have been thrown from Volcanos in the moon, 
beyond the reach of its attraction, and within the sphere of the earth's gra- 
vity : this also is declared to be a fanciful hypothesis, which is neither sug- 
gested by facts, nor founded on analogy ; as such Volcanos are not certainly 
known to exist, and such force of projection has never been exhibited in 
in any Volcanic eruption on our earth. 

There are many objections urged against all these theories ; and whether 
Meteoric Stones are the fragments of the " lost pleiad," projected from 
lunar or earthly Volcanos, or compounded in the regions of air, is a ques- 
tion not likely to be soon, if ever, decided. 

A number of scattered facts have, however, been brought together, and 
generalized, for some future philosopher to work upon, from which he may 
perhaps deduce a theory that will clear away the mystery which now en- 
velopes their origin. 

3. " What is the cause of the fog, which sometimes overspreads London, 
causing darkness to ivalkin mid-day, ivith her train of hair-breadth escapes 
and fatal accidents — why are its returns periodical, and why is London 
the radiating point? Do clouds, rain, mist, dew, frost, snow, and hail, 
proceed from the same cause ?'^ — Referred to Samuel Webb. 

Answer. — The atmosphere contains an elastic, transparent, invisible, and 
intangible fluid, called vapor or steam, which, by reduction of its tempera- 



IQO APPENDIX. 

lure, becomes condensed into water — as dew, fog, clouds, rain, mist, and 
(when frozen) into frost, sleet, snow, and hail; the temperature at which 
iliiii condensation commences, is called the dew point. 

Whenevir the temperature of the air is the same, or a Utile below the 
dew point, the vapor iiiriis to water, and forms what is called mint or cloud — 
if it be much below, (yet above 32'",) the condensation is mure rapid, and 
rain is formed — if below 32°, snow is formed. 

When the ascending column of air carries the rain into the region of 
perpetual congelation, that rain is frozen and descends in small pieces of 
ice, called Imil. 

When the temperature of the surface of the earth is a little below the 
temperature of the air, a condensation of the vapor in the air (at the sur- 
face) takes place and forms ileiv — should the temperature of the air, at that 
lirae, happen to be below 32° of Fahrenheit, the dew is frozen and forms 
frost. 

When the temperature of the ground is considerably below that of the 
air, a much more extensive condensation takes place, and thus zfog is pro- 
duced ; should the temperature of the air at that time be much below 32°, 
the fog is frozen, and is then snow, and falls to the earth by its specific gra- 
vity. 

in proportion to the extent of cold surface which comes in contact with 
the air, so will he the quantity of fog proiluccd ; this can never be so great 
in a level country, as in a narrow valley or a large town — London, for in- 
stance, where the paved streets, tlie walls, and the roofs of the houses, 
form a much t^reater extent of cold surface in a given space, than would 
occur in an open country. In proportion as the town is more closely built 
up, the greater will be tlie cfl'ecl produced. Consequently, as we approach 
llie suburbs, where ihe buildings are further apart and the openings greater, 
the fog will proponionably decrease; and thus the centre of the town may 
be the centre of the fog. 

Hut the circumstances al)0ve described do not always produce a fog — 
for it may so haj)pen, that at some place not far distant the air is sulficienily 
healed to create an upward motion, and there ascends in an upward column 
to a great height ; this causes a strong wind to rush towards that upward 
column, carrying the fog away with it, and thus keeps the atmosphere com- 
paraiively dear ; hence we seldom see much fog on a «indy day. 

If the returns of this dense fog are periodical, the reason is, that like 
causes produce like efi'ects ; and the same circumstances which cause one 
fog, occurring again will cause another. I am not aware that it returns at 
regulai inlervals. 

The location of London on an island, surrounded by the ocean, the hu- 
midity of its atmosphere, its northern lalitude, its great extent of paved 
sirtels, its numerous and elevated buildings, all have a tendency to cause 
dense and fretjuent fogs. 

It is prol)able tliat the great fogs alluded to, are caused by a sudden rise 
in the temperature of the air, (owing to a storm passing to the northward of 
the it<land.) 

The paved streets, the walls, and the roofs of the houses, lieing much 
colder than the air, causes the great and sudden condensation of the vapor 
into fog. 



SOUTHERN EXULTATION. 167 



No. III. 

We give below some specimens of Southern exultation over the burning 
of our Hall, affording the surest evidence that slavery cannot long exist 
where buildings are open for a free discussion of " its sublime merits." 
Some of the ivrifers, according to their own confessions, took part in the 
mob.' One of our newspaper editors, in commenting on them, says: 
" Alas ! — for the honor of the Keystone State, when she is thus subjected 
to the eulogy of unhung scoundrels, who exult in her infamy and commend 
her for her shame. But are Pennsylvania principles to be trampled under 
foot — tlie majesty of her laws insulted, and the property of her citizens de- 
stroyed by ruffians from other states, and no attempt be made to bring the 
self acknowledged criminals to justice ? What have become of our rights, — 
of the power of a state to protect her own citizens, — if our laws may thus be 
practically nullified in the very teeth of their constituted guardians, by pro- 
fligates from the South, who publicly boast of their successful vjllany, and 
exult in their crimes, as if conscious that Pennsylvania is too weak or too 
wicked to vindicate her laws, or protect her citizens in the exercise of their 
constitutional rights?" 

The first is from the New Orleans True American, of May 26. The 
editor of that paper says : 

" The news from Philadelphia is of a highly important and interesting 
character. It will be seen by the subjoined letter from a private cor- 
respondent, that the Hall of the abolitionists in that city has been burnt to 
the ground ; and yet, great as the destruction was, so universal was the 
feeling that dictated it, and so well considered were all the measures taken 
to effect the purpose, that neither fights, drunkenness, or disorder, stained 
the act, which the citizens undertook from a heart-felt conviction that their 
act, though contrary to the spirit of the law, was called for by a firm con- 
viction that the efforts and purposes of the vile abolition faction tended to 
destroy the Union ! to introduce murder, anarchy, and rapine, into the 
homes of their Southern brethren ! and merely to serve the purposes of a 
few selfish bigots, that our fruitful and happy country would be rendered a 
scene of carnage and misery, of which the horrid tragedy of St. Domingo, 
would be an inconsiderable and faint semblance. We will not, however, 
spoil the interest wliich our correspondent's letter — himself an eye witness 
of the scene — must give our readers, from its vivid description and graphic 
accuracy." 

Philadelphia, May 18, 1838. 

To the Editor of the New Orleans True American. 

Great Excitement in Philadelphia — the Molition House, called the Penn- 
sylvania Hall, burnt to ashes by a collection of people, four or five thou- 
sand in number — Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia in particular, de- 
livered and secure from the machinations of the Fanatics. 

A building recently erected by the Abolitionists in this city, and called by 
them the " Pennsylvania Hall,''^ and which cost forty-three thousand dol- 
lars, part contributed by English Fanatics, was formally opened last Mon- 
day, the 14th inst., by the abolitionists, preceded by a speech by David 
Paul Brown, Esq. On Tuesday the 15th, a meeting was held by the Fe- 
male Anti-Slavery Convention in the said Hall, an account of which I have 
sent you by the slow mail. At night a lecture was delivered on slavery, 
before an audience promiscuously mixed up of blacks and whites, sittino- 



I(i8 ArrENDix. 

loeethcr in amalgamated case. One pretty woman (white) was seen seated 
bi'lween two lilack Icllows willi woolly heads. .Men were seen gallanting 
black woni»;n lo and from the Hall. Hired black servants, by these marks 
of e»i)€cial allenlion, became insolent and arrogant to their employers ; and 
il was plainly set n, unless these maniacs could be checked in their mad 
course, much disturbance, and even disgrace and degradation to the whiles 
of better morals, would be the final result. Consequently, on Tuesday 
night, a mob collected before the Hall, raised a shout, and, with stones and 
brickbats, sttue in the glass of many windows ; and it was thought that 
nothing saved the house from destruction but the presence of the women 
inside the bnildiiig attending the meeting. About ten o'clock, P. M., the 
mob dispersed. On yesterday the 17lh, the Slate /Jnli-SUiveri/ Societi/, 
as a few fanatics style themselves, held their anniversary meeting. And it 
was given out that a while woman who had married a negro, was to give a 
lecture on abolition, on last evening at seven o'clock. 'I'his was too much, 
and more thin the higli-spiriled Pluladelphians could bear. The people by 
thousands were assembled in front of tiie Hall at six o'clock, and prevented 
any abolitionists from entering. 'I'he Mayor of tht city undertook to dis- 
perse them — so did the city watch; but were all soon dispersed lhenwelvet«. 
About half |)asl seven, P. ^I., the people feeling themselves able and willing 
lo do their duty, bnrsl open the doors of the house, entered their abolition 
book store, and made complete havoc of all within. They then beal out 
all the windows, and gathering a pile of window blinds, and a pile of aboli- 
tion books together, ihey placed them under the pulpit and set lire to ihem, 
and the building in general. Il was not long before the flames rose and 
spread with devouring violence and destruction through the Hall — a cry of 
fire rang along the streets, the Stale House bell pealed its nous — while the 
multitude wilhouf the building, as soon as ihey perceived the building on 
fire, gave a loud shout of joy. A large number of spkndid fire engines were 
imincdiniely on the spot, many of which could throw water more than a 
hundred feel high : but the noble fikkmen, to a man, of all Ihe nmnerous 
com/ianics present, refused lo throw one drop of water on the consuming 
ljuiltli)ii(. All they did was lo direct their engines to play upon the private 
buildings in the immediate vicinity of the blazing Hall, some of which were 
in great danger, as they were nearly joining the Hall. IJy the skilful exer- 
tion of these noble-hearted yoims^ men, however, no private property was 
suffered to receive the least damage, — while llie Hall was totally consumed 
with all its contents. Such conduct in the Philadelphia fire companies de- 
serves ihe highest praise and gratitude of all the friends of the Union, and 
of all Southerners in particular ; and I hope and trust the fire companies of 
.New Orleans will hold a meeting, and testify in some suitable manner to 
llie Philadelphia fire companies, their sincere ajiprobalion of their noble con- 
duct on this occasion. The fire companies of other Southern cities 1 should 
like to see do likewise. 

I was on the spot when the fire began, till its fine zinc roof, which, by 
llie intensity of the hot fire, was consumed in a blue blaze, and in truth, it^ 
lloors, all tumbled to the ground together — and during the whole time, not 
one drop of water did I see fall on the burning mass. The light and llame 
was .HO great, that it illuminated the whole city and suburbs. 

.\nd here, permit me to say, you may call it a mob if you please ; but I 
ran ^ay one thing — I never saw a more orderly, and more generally well 
informed class of people brought together on any other occasion where the 
meeting was called a mob. I passed about freely among them where there 
w.iM mom, and found no personal inconvenience. There was no fighting, 
no violence lo i»m .iie pi r.-ciis. or properly. .MI individual rights were 



SOUTHERN EXULTATION. 1 G9 

scrupulously respected — and the only aim seemed to be to destroy the build- 
ing in question. A Quaker mob could not have been more orderly. The 
Union and the South is safe in the hands of the good old Keystone State of 
Pennsylvania. a southerner and an eye witness. 

The two following letters are taken from the Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle 
and Sentinel : 

Philadelphia, May 17, 1838. 

Dear Sir: — I cannot employ a leisure hour more satisfactorily to myself, 
than in giving a brief description of abolition, as I have seen it in this city ; 
and I have deemed this communication the more essential, inasmuch as the 
editors of papers here, who are not totally silent on the subject, do not seem 
disposed to paint in their true colors the outrages of those fanatics and 
moral parricides. 

On the South- West corner of Sixth and Cherry streets, has recently been 
erected and finished a stately edifice, sacred to the cause of amalgamation. 
On its imposing front may be seen, in large golden capitals, occupyinsf 
nearly the whole width of the building, " PENNSYLVANIA HALL '" 
In its most southern apartment on Sixth street, is the abolition book store ; 
there, hung around the walls and strewed about the counters, may be seen 
caricatures which I forbear to describe, but which the boldest mind cannot 
excel in its fiercest imaginings of cruelty, inhumanity and punishment. 

By public advertisement, a meeting of three days and nights duration, 
commenced on Tuesday last, in \h\s tabernacle of mischief and fanaticism. 
Yesterday, in the broad light of day, I saw many pairs and trios of differ- 
ent hues, from "jetty black to snowy white," arm in arm, emerge from its 
spacious halls. There, sir, was the descendant of Ham or of Africa, linked, 
side by side, with some of the fairest and wealthiest daughters of Philadel- 
phia, conversing as they went, no doubt strengthening each other in the 
faith, by their warm expressions of mutual assurance and hope that the pe- 
riod would soon arrive when they might become sisters-in-law — that soon 
would their fearless and eloquent leader (Buffoon,) succeed in convincing 
the world that men and women should regard no more the paltry difference 
of texture of skin or quality of hair, than should the beasts of the field; 
that the white lady should no more object to the society of a black com- 
panion, than the ivhite dog should object to kenneling with the black one. 

And, sir, the people of Philadelphia sufler this in their goodly city of 
brotherly love ! 'Tis true, they profess to be offended at these things. But 
then, they do not think the peace of the city should be disturbed in its re- 
pose, or violated in its regularity. They think that the temple of these au- 
dacious meddlers may still rear its gorgon crest before the eye of the South- 
ron, — that those from tvhose hands they receive their daily bread, and whose 
substance clothes their merchant cities in beauty and affluence, may still 
bear their insults, as they have borne them. 

Little do they reflect, in their lethargic indiflference to the conduct of these 
tnad zealots, how soon the flourishing bloom of their cities must fade and 
decay, when they shall no longer enjoy the aid and support of the productive 
South. [! !] Your obedient servant, A. 



Philadelphia, May 17, 12 o'clock, p. m. 
Mr. Jones: — I wrote you this morning a description of abolition in this 
city, in which, in effect, I censured the people of this city. I hasten to 
make the amende honourable. 

22 



170 Ai'I'tNUIX. 

About 7 o'clock this evening, -Mr. Swift, the Mayor, visited the Pennsyl- 
vania Hall, and advised ilie aboliiionisls to absent tlieniselves, and to remain 
quietly at lionie. I am informed that he took the keys of the Hall and put 
ihem in his pocket. Mr. H. M'L. the only Southern man with whom I was 
acquainted, and myself, went to the Hall about half past 7. (Jreat numbers 
were collected there. About 8 o'clock the crowd grew more dense, and they 
commenced operations by throwing stones at the windows, fi'c lent our 
feeble iffurls to ejf'ect the demolition of this castle of iniquity. 'J'he mob 
grew more and njore violent. They battered in the doors, and they entered, 
bv force of battering rams, the abolition sanctuary, (the book store,) and 
cast many hundred volumes into the street; the remainder were taken to the 
tliird story of the edifice, and set on fire; and an individual unknown, but 
who ought to have a place in the history of his country, heaped uj) the re- 
mainder of the books and caricatures, and watching over them until the 
building was thoroughly on fire, left it in an irresistible state of conflagra- 
tion. .1 health to him at this midnight hour — many a man has been im- 
mortalized for less. 

The fire companies repaired tardily to the scene of action, and not a drop 
of water did they pour upon that accursed Muloch, until it was a heap of 
ruins. Sir, it xcnuld have gladdened your heart to have beheld that lofty 
tower of mischief enveloped in Jlames. The devouring element assumed 
an aspect which to me it had never worn before; it seemed to wear, com- 
bined with its terrible majesty, beauty and delight. To witness those beau- 
tiful spires of flame, gave undoubted assurance to the heart of the Southron, 
tliat in his bretliren of the North he has friends who appreciate him, and 
Avho will defend him, though absent, at any, and at every hazard. 

Your obedient servant, A. 



The following is from the Missouri Saturday News, published in St. Louis. 
It exhibiljj the ruflian spirit which slavery engenders. 

" Pennsylvania Hall. — The destruction of this Temple of .hnalgama- 
tion, in the city of brotherly love, should not be regretted by any American 
citizen, who entertains just pretensions to patriotism. The manner of this 
transaction is no more to be regretted than the fact itself. When an asso- 
ciation of persons, with whatever avowed purpose they may gloss over 
their mischiefs, unite their eflorts in outrage on the morals and the political 
institutions of the country, the summary punishment inflicted by the indig- 
nant populace of a city, is the most effectual chastening which human wis- 
dom can devise. A more direct and unqualified case of insolence and ef- 
frontery, could not have been contrived, tlian the parade of black and white 
amalgamation in the fashionable promenades of the city. A single shame- 
less instance of a white woman hanging to the arm of a negro, was sufli- 
ciently insulting to a people of good taste, to justify the demolition of the 
unholy temple of tlie abolition lecturers. It is in vain to suggest that laws 
can provide a remedy for such rank oflcnces. 'I'o impose elTectual legal 
restraints, would impair personal freedom, and the liberty of the press, 
a sacrifice which the abolitionist has no claim to. His purposes are wicked; 
his transactions have a lawless and unconstitutional tendency, and, in his 
movements towards the dissoUition of the I'nion, he puts himself out of the 
protection of the laws. He outlaws himself, and no act for his protection 
rnn he enforced by the most enerirelic ministers of the law. As well might 
a rabul dn(T riaim a trial by his peers, as an abolitionist who piles up the 
combustible materials of a servile war, and teaches in his lectures the chc- 



THE TOCSIN. 171 

niical process of igniting the mass. There is no veil which sophistry can 
impose, so impervious as to hide the hypocrisy beneath it. Christianity 
revolts at the proposed connexion of fiends with the devout teachers of the 
various religious sects. 

We rejoice to see the battle fought in that part of the Union where the 
traitors originate their deep laid schemes; and it is cheering to observe the 
just view the people of the free states take of a subject which has so long 
agitated the country. The South may rest their case in the hands of their 
spirited brethren of the North, who will guarantee their constitutional rights, 
and without waiting the tardy and futile provisions of law. It is fashiona- 
ble for conductors of the press to lament violations of the law, and transac- 
tions like that to which we refer, are pronounced seditious and immoral; 
but we would as soon denounce the sages of our revolution as ' rebels,' as 
cast a shade of censure on the actors in the late Pliiladelphia affair. The 
skilful physician, in desperate cases, applies the mineral poison; but, like 
the surgeon, he sets bounds to his ministry; so did the populace and the 
firemen. The offensive matter was consumed, but the flames expired within 
the temple of abolition. The abolition lecturers and the proprietors of this 
unholy temple, may think themselves fortunate that their ashes have not 
been mingled with the rubbish of their edifice. We speak with the bold- 
ness and energy which we are sensible is not usual; but in extreme emer- 
gencies the conductors of the press are culpable when they adopt a milk 
and water course; and it will be found too late to pour out lachrymose sen- 
timents over the remains of their countrymen who are doomed by the treason 
of abolition." 



No. IV. 

It has been remarked that " the poetry of the world is all against slavery." 
We believe it ; for we cannot conceive that any person who has heart 
enough to write good poetry, can look unmoved upon the chatlellizing of God's 
image, with all its horrid consequences. .The two following effusions are 
worthy of preservation. The first is by John Pierpont, Pastor of a Uni- 
tarian church in Boston, (Massachusetts,) with whose genius both Europe 
and America are familiar. 

THE TOCSIN. 

Wake ! children of the men who said, 

"All are born free" ! — Their spirits coniP 

Back to the places where they bled 
In Freedom's holy martyrdom, 

And find you sleeping on their graves. 

And hugging there your chains, — ye slaves ! 

Ay, slaves of slaves ! What ! sleep ye yet, 

And dream of Freedom while ye sleep ? 
Ay, dream, while Slavery's foot is set 

So firmly on your necks, — while deep 
The chain her quivering flesh endures. 
Gnaws, like a cancer, into yours I 



172 APPENDI-T. 

Hah ! say ye that I've falsely spoken, 

Cttllinp ye slaves ? — Then prove ye're not : 

Work a free press ! — ye'll see it broken : 
Si.mil lo defend it ! — ye'll be shot : 

Oh, yes I — but people should not dare 

Print what the "brotherhood" won't bear! 

Then from your lips let words of grace, 
Cilean'd from the Holy Bible's pages, 

Fall, while ye're pleading for a race 

Whose blood has flow'd through chains for ages ; 

And pray — "Lord, let thy kingdom come!" 

And ace if ye're not stricken dumb : 

Yes, men of God ! ye may not speak 

As, by the Word of (Jod, ye're bidden ; — 

IJy the press'd lip, — the blanching cheek. 
Ye feel yourselves rebuked and chidden ; 

And if ye're not cast out, ye fear it : — 

And ivliy ? — "The brethren" will not bear it. 

Since, then, through pulpit, or through press. 
To prove your Freedom ye're not able, 

Co, — like the Sun of Righteousness, 
By wise men honor'd, — to a stable ! 

Bend there to Liberty your knee ! 

Say //if re that Cod made all men free! 

Even there, — ere Freedom's vows yc'vc plighted. 
Ere of her form ye've caught a glimpse. 

Even there, are fires infernal lighted. 
And ye're driven out by Slavery's imps. 

Ah, well ! — " so persecuted ihey 

The prophets" of a former day ! 

Co, then, and build yotirselves a hall, 
To prove yo are not slaves, but men ! 

Write " FKEFDO.AF' on its towering wall ! 
Baptize it in the name of PEiNN ; 

And give it to her holy cause. 

Beneath llie JEg\s of her laws : 

Within, let Freedom's anthem swell ; — 
And, while your hearts bcffin to throb. 

And burn within yoji Hark I the yell — 

The torch — the torrent of the Moh I — 

Thoy 're Slavery's troops that round you sweep. 

And leave your Mali a smouldering heap ! 

At Slavery's beck, the prayers ye urge 
On your own servants, through iho door 

Of your own senate, that the scourge 
May gash your brother's back no more. 

Are iraniplcd luiderneath their feel. 

N\ hde yi- uland praying in the mreet ! 



THE PENNSYLVANIA HALL. 173 

At Slavery's beck, ye send your sons 

To hunt down Indian wives or maids, 
Doom'd to the lash ! — Yes, and their bones, 

Whitening 'mid swamps and everglades, 
Where no friend goes to give them graves, 
Prove that ye are not Slavery's slaves ! ! 

At Slavery's beck, the very hands 

Ye lift to Heaven, to swear ye're free, 
Will break a truce, to seize the lands 

Of Seminole or Cherokee ! 
Yes — tear a flag, that Tartar hordes 
Respect, and shield it with their swords ! 

Vengeance is Thine, Almighty God ! 

To pay it hath Thy justice bound Thee : — 
Even now, I see Thee take Thy rod : — 

Thy thunders, leash'd and growling round Thee — 
Slip them not yet, in mercy ! — Deign 
Thy wrath yet longer to restrain ! — 

Or — let thy kingdom. Slavery, come ! 

Let Church, let State, receive thy chain ! 
Let pulpit, press, and hall be dumb. 

If so " the brotherhood" ordain ! 
The muse her own indignant spirit 
Shall still speak out, and men shall hear it. 

Yes : — while at Concord there 's a stone 

That she can strike her fire from still ; 
While there's a shaft at Lexington, 

Or half a one on Bunker's Hill, 
There shall she stand and strike her lyre, 
And Truth and Freedom shall stand by her. 

But should she thence by mobs be driven, 
For purer heights she'll plume her wing: — 

Spurning a land of slaves, to heaven 

She'll soar, — where she can safely sing. 

God of our fathers, speed her thither ! 

God of the free, let me go with her ! 



The following appeared in the " Pennsylvania Freeman," of this city, 
over the signature " N." The name of the author is not known. 

THE PENNSYLVANIA HALL. 

That noble Hall threw up its light 

To meet the answering sky, 
While startled men with shuddering sight 

Saw threat'ning ruin nigh : 



174 APPENDIX. 



Oh ! Slavery's form that hour was seen 

Polhitiiifif all our air, 
lis fearful front and fiendish mien 

And twininp chains were bare, 
And well that Hall, in Freedom's name, 
Hath spoken out wii!i words of Hame ! 

U then the hallow'd home of Penn 

A jilace no longer free ? 
Have Hush and Franklin lived in vain, 

O rccroant land, for thee ? 
Can Freedom's cry, flunp: wildly out 

From sunny vale and hill, 
AVake in thy sons no answering shout 

Of proud devotion still ? 
Shall the stern voices of her slain 
'J'hrill from thy olden graves in vain ? 

No ! from thy ruin, glorious Hall ! 

Shall rise a battle cry, — 
Unsinged, " upon the outer wall," 

Our lofty banners fly : 
Our conquering arms are trulli and light, 

Fncircling love our shield, 
And firmly for etkrnal right 

^^'e will maintain the field : — 
Wo unto us if now we falter, 
"When Freedom bleeds on her own altar ? 

Though o'er us now the raging storm. 

And rushing waters round. 
Though fierce the lightning's lurid form 

And dread the thunder's sound. 
Oh, brightly yet the promise-sign 

Shall span the arching dome, 
And singing birds, and glad sunshine. 

And balmy breezes come — 
When 'franchised slaves their songs shall raise. 
And yon blue welkin ring with praise ! 



REPOUT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 175 



NO. V. 

Soon after the Hall was destroyed, the reflecting, orderly and virtuous 
portion of the community began to express their disapprobation of the con- 
duct of the Mayor. To allay this discontent, the Mayor published the fol- 
lowing card in the daily papers: 

A CARD. — TO THE PUBLIC. 
" Fellow Citizens: — For the purpose of putting an end to inquiry as to tlie catises which 
led to the late much to be regretted violation of the public peace, and my conduct on the occasion 
I have only to say that the Councils of the city have appointed a committee to investigate both and 
that I shall cheerfully abide by the decision, be it what it may. ' 

Your most obedient servant, John Swift Mayor 

JJfai/ 25th, 1838." ' "^ 

The publication of this card in the Pennsylvania Inquirer of May 28th 
was the first intimation we had that the Councils purposed any investigation 
of the Mayor's conduct. By the extract from the Journal, published with 
the Police Committee's Report, it will be seen that the resolution request- 
ing that committee to investigate the subject, was adopted not till three days 
after the publication and six after the date of the above card. Hence it seems 
that the Mayor or his friends decided on an investigation before the councils 
did so; and from the committee's subsequent conduct it would seem, not only 
that the action of Councils was anticipated, but that the case was prejudged 
and the inquiry instituted merely to exculpate the Mayor, and the Police 
Committee themselves, from deserved censure for not having preserved the 
peace of the city. INo wonder the Mayor was so willing to abide by the 

decision of a committee, a majority of whom were his personal friends the 

chairman especially so — and who, moreover, were themselves implicated, 
inasmuch as the Mayor and city police are under their immediate control 
and direction. The following is the Report : 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLICE, 

On the circumstances attending and connected with the destruction of the 
Pennsijlvania Hall, and other consequent disturbances of the peace: Mr. 
Warner, Chairman. Read in Councils, July 5th, 1838. Philadelphia: 
j)rinted by L. R. Bailey, 26 North Fifth Street. 

Common Council Chamber, May 31st, 1838. 

I do hereby certify, that the following Preamble and Resolutions were 
this evening passed by the Select and Common Councils of the City of 
Philadelphia; viz. 

" Whereas, there is great excitement in the public mind in reference to 
the late disturbances resulting in the burning of the Pennsylvania Hall and 
other breaches of the peace: And whereas, it would be prejudicial to the 
reputation of the City and the Corporation to let these events pass unno- 
ticed, thereby giving a tacit assent to these infractions of law and good or- 
der: Therefore, 

''Resolved, That the Committee on Police, be requested to investigate 
and report to Councils the circumstances attending and connected with the 
destruction of the Pennsylvania Hall, and other consequent disturbances of 
the peace." 

Extract from the Journal. 
Attest Levi Hollingsworth, Clerk of Common Council. 



17G APPENDIX. 

Tfie Committee on Police, in compliance with the duty assigned to tliein 
by the foregoing Resolution, Rkport,* 

That they met on the 4th of June; and, after some inquiry into the ex- 
tent of the duties assigned to them, believing that the information required 
of them could be best obtained on application to the Managers of the Penn- 
sylvania Hall, they addressed a letter to the President of that Board, (see 
Appendix A,) enclosing a copy of the Kesolutit)n of Councils, and inform- 
ing him that the Committee would meet on the 6th insf., and that any com- 
munication from thai Board might be made to the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee. t 

At their adjourned meeting, on the 0th, a letter (see Appendix B,) was 
received from Daniel Noall, lOsquire, President of llie Board of Managers 
of the Pennsylvania Hall, in which he states: 

" In answer to your unexpected and unsolicited invitation, I am instruct- 
ed by the Managers to say, we are in possession of much information in 
relation to the matter alluded to, which we would be willing to communi- 
cate if it be the rcfjncst of Councils or of the respectable Committee of 
which thou art Chairman." 

He adds, that the preparation of the communication would require time; 
that they believe the information should be laid before the public; and con- 
cludes, " we are preparing a statement, containing, as far as practicable, all 
that was said or done in our Hall during the brief period of its existence, 
and also all the circumstances attending its destruction, in order that our 
fellow citizens may see that we did not deserve the treatment we received 
from the mob ; and that we did deserve that protection from the city au- 
thorities which we did not receive." 

'I'he Committee had not, //// then, received any intimation, either from 
the action of Councils on the subject, or from any responsible source, J that 
a belief was seriously entertained by any person, prepared and willing to 
substantiate the charge, that the city authorities had withheld from any citi- 
zens, the protection which, if they had it in their power to give, it was 
their boundeii duly to aflord to all. When, therefore, in reply to an official 
application for information as to the causes of the disturbances, they re- 
ceived from responsible persons, professing to be possessed of much infor- 
mation in relation to the matter, an assertion so distinctly conveying a charge 
of a refusal on the part of the city authorities to all'ord protection to those 
who deserved it, the C'ommittce deemed it a duty which they owed to those 
who had made the charge — to those whose character was impeached in it — 
to the Councils by whom this Committee was appointed — and to ihe public 
at large, whose representatives the Councils are, in the management of 
their municipal affairs, that so grievous an imputation should not be permit- 
ted to sleep upon their minutes unnoticed, but that the responsible promul- 
gators of it should be at once invited to define and specify the charsre in 
such manner as to enable this Committee to report the same at once to Coun- 
cils for their action. 

Accordingly a Hosolution was adopted, that the Committee would adjourn 
to meet again on the 8lh of June, " and that the Managers of the Pennsyl- 
vania Mall be nniihetl, that they may attend in person, or by attorney, to 
make such char;:cs or alli potions as they may think proper.'" And the 

• II is jinijicr to »t.itt> {\iM the iri/iri.ti-j:' i^ our own. 

•J 'nrnttni rrcri\c«l l>_v the Mmu«g»T», mi the Stti. It «ns rB{pic and intlcfiniic, leaving it 
dtMibtfiil »h<lliiT thi- HinimilUt; dcsirvd u» to furnish iniuriuutiun, or mcrciv wished to arrav ut 
■■ arriitrrt of lltf Mnior. 

i Se« tl>t M;ivor'i card! 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 177 

Chairman was requested to transmit to them a copy of the Resolution, which 
he did, by a note, dated the 7th of June.* (See Appendix C.) 

In the absence of Mr. Neall, the President, a reply was written by Mr. 
Samuel'Webbjt (the Treasurer of tlie Pennsylvania Hall,) dated the 7th inst., 
(see Appendix D,) which was read at the meeting of the Committee on the 
8th. 

In that letter they again state, that the time is " too short to prepare a 
statement of the injuries" they received. He adds — 

" From the resolution of Councils it appeared to us as though they were 
anxious to obtain information in relation to the wanton destruction of our 
property; and we felt willing to aid in any impartial investigation which they 
might wish to make; but from thy last letter it would seem as though it was 
desired we should assume the attitude of accusers, which is a character the 
Managers have no desire to appear in." 

" If the Mayor has not done his duty, it does not lay with us to impeach 
him." 

This was the Jirst personal allusion to the conduct of the Mayor in this 
investigation. 

The Committee felt the delicacyX o( ihe task which devolved upon them. 

In the discharge of the duty assigned to them, they had asked for infor- 
mation§ from those persons whom they believed to be possessed of it. In 
reply they had received an accusation against the city authorities of neglect 
of duty. When thej'^ called for charges, those who had made the accusa- 
tion answered, that " the attitude of accusers is a character the Managers 

♦ Allowing about twenty-four hours for the Managers of the Hall to assemble and draw up a 
statement, &c. 

f Tills letter was directed to Daniel Neall, or Samuel JJ'ebb, but as the committee omitted to 
mention that circumstance, we will refresh their recollection by inserting the whole letter, ver- 
batim et literatim : 

Pmiadelphia June 7th 18.38 
Der Sir — Your Letter of the 5th inst in reply to mine of the 4t inst was recived yeasterday 
Morning the 6tli inst- and was laid before the connittee last Evning. by whom I am instructed 
to communcete the fowling Resaulution 

Jiesolvd that when this commttee adjurns we adjiirn to meet in the Chamber of the Select 
Council at 8,, O Clock an Friday Evnig Next 8lh inst and that the Managers of .the Pensylvani 
Hall be notified that thee may attend in Person or by Attorney to Make such churges or allega- 
tions as they may think proper. 

I hav the Honer to be youres &c 

JoHX S Wauser 
Daxile Neall Esqr. Chermn Comutte on Police 

(Endorsed)— Danil Neall Esqiiv Presidunt Board Managei's Pen Hall 
or Samiil Webb Esqi- No 305 Mulberys Ster 

For a translation of the foregoing letter, see Appendix, letter C. 

+ The Committee should have said "indelicacy of the task," to be at once the accused and the 

accuser, the counsel, the witnesses, the judge, the jury, and the executioner! It may, however, 

oe considered a " delicate " task for men to sit in judgment on themselves and their officers and 

agents ; for 

'• When self the tottering balance holds, 

It's rarely right adjusted." 

§ It does not appear that they wanted information but informers — some " responsible promul- 
gators," to make " charges or allegations." I'he only thing like asking for information that we 
have seen, is the resolution contained in William H. Keating's letter to us, date d June 8th, in wh'ch 
letter he says, he was instructed by the Committee to invite our attendance and that of any wit- 
nesses we might deem it desirable to adduce, and that we might be attended hy our Counsel 
if we thought proper. 

The learned Counsellor who wrote that letter knows very well that this is unusual language to 
address to a -witness — ih^i parties, not witnesses, are notified to adduce their witnesses, and are 
permitted to have the aid of counsel. 

33 



178 AITENDIX. 

have no desire to appear in ;" bul, in a manner which brought the insinua- 
tion more directly home, they add that, " if the Mayor has not done his 
duty, it does not lay with ilicm to impeach him." 

The Committee were unwilling, without special instructions from Coun- 
cils, to institute themselves into a committee oi int/uiry into the conduct of 
the Mayor,* or of any other officer; tlie iluly assigned to ilicm was merely 
" to invcBiigaie and report to (."ouncils the circumstances attending and con- 
nected with" the di.-turbances of the peace. 

They therefore again ap|)lieil to the Managers of the Hall ; not for a com- 
munication in writing, which tlie Managers had alleged would take a few 
(lays to prepare; but they invited them to attend at an adjourned meeting, 
to be held on the I'^th, to give to the Committee such evidence as they may 
themselves possess, or as may be obtained by them from others, to enable 
the Commiilce to discharge the duly enjoined upon them by Councils. 

It was the personal attendance of the Manngers and of tlieir friends which 
was requested, so as to obtain from them, verhally, that information which 
the Committee were required to procure. The Committee did not invite 
them to conu; forward as accusers,! but as witnesses — and, lest these gentle- 
men should be deterred from appearing by the apprehension that questions 
of an embarrassing character troiild be asked, they were informed, that if 
ihey thought proper to be aitendeil by their counsel, the Committee desired 
lliat he might also be invited to appear. 

And as it became evident that the information of which those gentlemen 
were possessed, was, in their opinion, calculated to implicate the character 
of the city authorities, it was deemed an act of justice to invite the personal 
attendance of the Mayor on the occasion. It was not as one accused that 
lie was invited ; but as one who, from his official station, was probably pos- 
sessed of much information in relation to the recent disturbances, and who, 
88 the Chief Magistrate of the city, was most deeply interested in any in- 
vestigation connected "wiih disturbances of the peace," and best able to 
vindicate the charor/er of tlie city aulhorilies, if it was unjustly assailed. 
He was also informed, that if he chose to be attended by liis counsel he was 
at liberty to extend the invitation to him. — (Copies of the Resolutions and 
letters addressed to the Managers and to the Alayor are annexed — see Ap- 
pendix E and F.) 

On the r2th the Committee again met, and aficr they liad proceeded some- 
what in their business, they received a letter from Mr. Neall, dated the 12th. 
(5»ee Appendix G.) From this letter it seemed that the Managers declined 
making any communication, written or verbal, to the Committee; they say, 
they "doubt wheilicr the period has yet arrived when the history of the 
short existence, and destruction of the Pennsylvania Hall, would be dispas- 
sionately read and coolly decided up»)n. Of the time and manner of making 
such publication, we request to be permitted to judge hereafter, according 
to existing rircumstances," In a subsequent part of that letter, the Mana- 
gers seem to have assumed that the object of the ('ommittee was to call for 
infornjation in relation'to an investigation into the conduct of the Mayor of 
the city ;t alihough the Committee had carefully avoided alluding to this 
subject, both in their resolutions and correspondence, as they did not deem 
it within tbrir province to institute such an investigation. 

The .Managers renew their disclaimers of any wish to become informers 
and prosecutors, and they repeat some of the views expressed in their for- 
mer letters. 

• Src \Uv Mnvor'i Canl, |wr»' \TS. 

■\ Si-e iho IntiT ol"ihcir " ('l»*rmii," ilAtrd June 7tli. 

! IU<I wc iio« « right to aMunic tlii* from the Minor'* own |)iiblishoO card > 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 179 

Tlie Committee, finding ihat the Managers were not willing to communi- 
cate at this time the information in their possession, made no further appli- 
cation to them. 

The Mayor attended in complianne witli the invitation that had been sent 
to him ; and when asked by the Chairman of the Committee, whether he 
liad any communication to make, he declined making any; stating that he 
had attended on account of the invitation ; that if any charges ivere made 
against him, he was prepared to meet them, and to defend himself against 
all charges or insinuations ; but that he claimed the privilege of all accused 
persons, that specific charges should be made, and the prosecutors' names 
revealed. 

The Committee informed him that they had not been appointed to inves- 
tigate his conduct ; ihat no distinct charges had been made against him; 
that 710 one had chosen to assume the attitude of a prosecutor; but that they 
would cheerfully receive any information he had it in his power to give them, 
which would facilitate the investigation imposed upon them by Councils. 

Mr. Swift, then, not as Mayor of the city, but as a citizen who had wit- 
nessed some of the circumstances attending those disturbances, communi- 
cated to the Committee, verbally and unofficially, such circumstances as had 
come under his notice; he also placed in their possession certain letters 
which are hereto annexed, (marked H, I, K, L, and M.) 

This communication, together with the publications made by the Mana- 
gers of the Pennsylvania Hall Association in the newspapers, as well as the 
information derived by the members of the Committee from other sources, 
has enabled them to prepare the annexed brief statement in relation to the 
recent breaches of the peace. 

The Committee have endeavored as far as possible to avoid the intro- 
duction of any controverted facts. They are aware that a statement pre- 
pared as theirs is, without the advantage of an examination of witnesses 
upon oath, must necessarily be imperfect. The Mayor, it is true, expressed 
his willingness to be sworn to the truth of the facts stated by him ; but the 
Committee declined hearing him upon oath. 

Aware that they were invested with no judicial character; that they had 
no authority to require, and to compel the attendance of witnesses ; that 
they could not rightfully administer an oath or affirmation; that none admi- 
nistered before them by a magistrate, extra-judicially, would have any legal 
sanction ; and that no deviation of the truth, however gross or wilful, on 
the part of a witness so sworn, would make him liable to the pains and pe- 
nalties of perjury, the Committee thought it better not to attempt even the 
form of a judicial investigation ; and, as they could not hear other witnesses 
upon oath or affirmation, they declined the Mayor's ofl^er; not doubting that 
any statement made by him without an oath, would be the same as if 
sworn to. 

The Committee deem it unavoidable to dwell for a moment upon the 
causes* which produced among a certain portion of our community that 
deep excitement, which, breaking through every bound, and setting at 
nought the dictates of law, reason, or right, doomed] to destruction a large 
and costly edifice, but recently erected in our city, and dedicated to " liber- 
ty, and the right of free discussion " upon all subjects. It would ill be- 
come this Committee to utler a single word in palliation of the deep stain 
which the character of our city has received from this violent outrage upon 

*They wereappointed to investigate, not the causM, but the circumstancef: attending and connect- 
ed with the destruction of the Pennsylvania llaW, &i\A other consequent dinturbances oi X\\&\ye:\cc. 
■\ {[3^ DoowF.ii to destruction. 



180 APPENDIX. 

private rights and private property. But, however deeply the Committee 
may depiecate and censure the existence of that feeling ; however impossi- 
ble'il may be for them in any manner to justify or excuse it; they owe it 
to the cause of truth, to declare that this excitement, (heretofore unparal- 
leled in our city,) teas ocranioned' by the determination of the oivners of 
thai building and of their friends, to persevere in openly proniulgaling and 
advocating in it doctrinen repulsive to the moral aenat^ of a large majority 
of our community ; and to persist in this course against the advice of friends, 
heedless of tfie dangers which they were encountering, or reckless of its 
consequences to the peace and order of our city X ^( their strict legal and 
constitutional riyht to do so, there can be no question. Our Constitution 
declares that " the free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of 
ihe invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely speak, write, and 
print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty ;" and 
again, ** the citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble toge- 
ther for their common good," and " to apply to those invested with the pow- 
ers of government for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by 
petition, address, or remonstrance." Neither can there be any tloubt of tiie 
duty of the city authorities, so far as it is in their power to do it, to extend 
protection to all, and to secure, as far as possible, the rights and the pro- 
perty of all citizens against invasion from any quarter. But how far it was 
prudent or judicious, or even morally right — how far it became peaceful and 
good citizens to persevere in measures generally admitted to have a tenden- 
cy to endanger the public peace — how far they could anticipate any result 
ditferent from that which has occurred — are questions upon which public 
opinion is to a certain extent divided. However much it may be a subject 
of regret to this Committee, il can be no matter of surprise iothcn), that the 
mass of the community, without distinction of political or religious opinions, 
could ill brook the erection of an edifice in this city, for the encouragement 
of practices believed by many to be subversive of the established orders of 
society, and even viewed by some as repugnant to that separation and dis- 
tinction which it has pleased tiie great Author of naluie to establish among 

• The cilitor of tlic Pfiinsi IvBuia Frv^tnnn, in remarking on tliis part of tlic •' Rejtort," says : 
"We cannot Iij;litl_v paw o\cr the »tu<hed, systematic attempt to tlii-ow tlic entire bhinie of the 
•titxiouB outrage, at least so far ns its e.xciting cause is concerned, u|>oi) tlie alleged imprudence 
of tlic abolitionists. It is a mi-an and base and most » icked endeavor to scix-en from censure men 
who liave culjiably neglected their sworn duty. In their endeavor to defend the condiici of the 
Mayor, the Commiliee found themselves under the necessity of ))nlliuting and excusing (he atro- 
cities ot the mob, and they have done so ojienly, and v»iih the cool audacity of a Cialitrine Medi- 
cis, charging the criminulty of the mabsncrc of St. Bartholomew's u|>on the hunted and outraged 
Hugenot." 

•j •* ' RrpuUivc to the n)oral sense' of the community ! And did (hat repulsion manifest itself 
in mol> law, n)l>l>ery, and Hrsnn ? Did the ' moral sense' of the cx^)mmunity dictate the modut ope- 
randi of the rvmovnl of the ' ix-pulsive' object .' Did it nerve the arms which dushed open the 
doors, and hiirleil the brickbats ' Di<l it kindle the torch of the incendiai^.' Were the obscenity 
•nd bl«S|iJiemT— ihr hoarse thix'ats of murder, and the gross insults offered to unprotected fe- 
males, — the manifuld atrocities which tlisturbed and disgracctl wir city — nothing more, af(cr all, 
timn drmonstratioiis of the ' moral sense of the community,' struggling to put dov»n the ' repul- 
sive doctrines' of tlie alHilitioiii«ts^" 

t Here is a grave chai-gf, a libel iijion the owners of the building, and {Hi their ft iends. We 
unetjuivocally and imlignantly deny tl»e cliargc. Would it not have been pitiiK-r for that Commit- 
tee to "drfint antl tprri/u" what (hnae doc(rines wrre, to \»hieh (hey allude ' An<l having this 
C'ommillrc as " res|ioiisible |>rnmulga(nrs'' ol (he m-andal, we trust the public v»ill justify us in 
holding them •• rrspoosibic" for (his assertion, which is as untrue in point of l.tct, as it was illi- 
beral and unjust in a Committee of tkxmcils to undertake to kct as telfappointcd accusers and 
Jndgrs 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 181 

the various races of man. Had the founders of the building, however, been 
satisfied with a less public dedication of their Hall, it is probable that the 
general good sense of our community, and the all-pervading influence of the 
law, would have availed to secure the building against the attack of its law- 
less aggressors. Extending, as they did, private invitations, as well as a 
call in ihe public papers, most loidely; not confining themselves to the city, 
or even to this commonwealth, but inviting from distant states men whose 
names have been but loo conspicuous before the community as active agita- 
tors ; and embracing in their invitations all persons, without distinction of 
color,* they unfortunately produced in the public mind a high state of ex- 
citement,t as prejudicial to the peace of the city, as it may have been un- 
expected by them. Perhaps, even, if the active participators in this celebra- 
tion had been confined to residents of our own city, well known, and en- 
deared to many by private worth and respectable character, the feelings of 
those opposed to lliem in opinion, might have been repressed by the general 
regard of the communiiy; but when it was found that our city had been 
selected as the rallying point of men known among us only as restless agi- 
tators and disturbers of the peace elsewhere; and when on the arrival of 
these strangers in Philadelphia, and during their sojourn here, our streets 
presented, for the first time since the days of William Penn, the unusual 
union of black and white walking arm in arm in social intercourse, it is a 
matter of no great surprise, however it should be of deep reprobation, that 
any individuals should have so far forgotten what was due to the character 
of the city, and to the supremacy of the law, as publicly to give vent to that 
indignation ivhich ought never to have been felt ; or if felt, should have been 
suppressed within their bosoms.J 

* To prove the accuracy of the investigatiotis of this veritable Committee, we insert the fol- 
lowing copy of our circular invitation to individuals ; 

" A. li. is invited to attend the opening oftlie Pennsylvania Hall, on the I4th, t5th, aud 16th of 
the Fifth month (ISIay) next, to con)nience on tiie morning of the l4lh, at — o'clock. 

By request of the Board of Managers. 
Joseph M. Truman, 

Committee." 



Joseph M. 1 human, "^ 
William H. .Scott, / 
William McKee, r 
Samuel Webb, J 



Sj 
Philadelphia, Fourth month l4th, 1838. 

We also insert a copy of an invitation published in the United States Gazette, May 10, 1838 : 
"The Pennsylvania Hall 
Will be opened for public use on the 14th, 15th, and I6th of the present month. The public ge- 
nerally, without dislinclion as to sect or -parly, are respectfully invited to attend. Several 
able addresses may be e.\pected. 

Signed by direction of the Board of Managers . 
Joseph M. Tkuman, \ 
William H. Scott, f ,-, ... 
William McKee, \ Co'""^'"^^. 
Samuel Webb, * 

Editors who are in favor o^ Liberty of Speech, as well as liberty of the press, are requested 
to copy the above. Any of them who may wish to send Reporters to the Hall, shall have them 
suitably accommodated by making early application to the Committee." 

■j" The " prejudicial excitement " here alluded to, was probably produced from the placard, and 
the well known fact that the Mayor would not take any efficient means to disperse the mob, and 
that the building, to use the language of the Police Committee, was " doomed to destruction." 

\ That those who were not present may know what value to place upon the exaggerated reports 
of the enemies of Emancipation, we will mention one or two facts. A young colored man, wealthy, 
and educated, the owner of a farm in one of the adjoining counties, came to the Hall with his 
wife, (who is darker than himself,) in his carriage, as his wife was lame. The rumor was in cna- 
sequence industriously circulated, that a white man had brought a colored girl with hira in his 
carriage to the Hall. The wife and sister-in-law of a highly respectable colored citizen, well 
known in Chestnut street, aud the son of a Governor of one of the Southern states, were seen 
walking with their own cousin, who happened to be darker than themselves, and the mob raised 



182 APPENDIX. 

The Pennsylvania Hall was opened on Monday llie lllh of May, and it 
appears that llie onl/ applicalioii nuule lo the police for as:jistance at tlie 
opening, consisited in piivalely entjaijinfj the services of two of the silent 
watch, Messrs. Saniuel Barry and Gersliotn Crafi, who were at once per- 
mitted to go to the ilall, wiih llit aasitrance to the Managers, thai the wliole 
police force of Ike city would be lint to them ij retfuired. The Mayor had 
summoned the whole of his force to be at the State House, on the afternoon 
of that day; but liie Managers having requested that tliese two police oflicers 
should be excused, (see Appendix H.) the Mayor readily assented to it. 
Their letter of ihe 11th has appeared to this Committee important, inasmuch 
as it requested " [)ermission lor these two men to remain at tlie Hall, to keep 
the boys from making a noise by runnint; in and out of the Hall during the 
exercises." 'I'his seems to have been tiie on/y unnoi/ance then apprehend- 
ed by the Managers, and it appears ihat they con:?idered these two men 
as alfording liiem suflicient protection against it.* These men are repre- 
sented to tlie Committee as failiiful and vigilant in the discharge of their 
duties, 'i'hcy liad probably been selected by the Managers from their well 
known friendly feeling lo the cause of abolition. They remained constantly 
at the Hall ; and neither they nor the Managers, nor any other person, inti- 
mated to any of the city authorities for tliree days, that there was any cause 
of alarm at the Hall. It was only latet in the evening of the 16th, (Wed- 

tl»e liiout tlial a black iiiun was walking uiili two " jjin-Uy wliite girls." A white iici'son seiztil a 
■wcrp hy (lie arm, and foixcd biiii tu wulk Ht-iu in ami, in n-uul of llie Hall. Olltcr similar cues 
might be niciilioiieil. 

Tlic i-iiiior of o«ie of our city (wjici-s, in i-cmarking on this iKirlion of the '• Rejtort." says : "It 
will thus U." seen llml the ('omniiltCL- of the Coiii.cils of riiila(lil|iliiH, have gone ilown into the 
kciiiieli of aocicty — ami raked the darki-sl and vilest purlieus of liccntiousiK-ss and |iollutiuii, for 
insinuations and sland'-rous repoils :i;;Hinst the friends of Kinunci|>at'ion. Shame on the men who 
could enilxxly these viU- and wickiMJ slandei-s — this low and vulgar slang of the enemies of ordtr 
and ninrality — the wati-liNkords and countersigns of the mob — in a gi-jve re|i<)rt of the Councils of 
our city. Wluit had they to clo wilh these irresiKinsible, indefinite slanders, floating on the breath 
of the mob! L'nsu|)|iorte<l by a sluidow of proof, u by are thev thrust u|ioii the public, under the 
sanction and authority of u ix-j>orl of this character? What other obji-ct can their re|>etition in 
this ilocumeiit sul)!,er\c, (luin tliat of ExcfsiNG the mob »on their past coxiicct a>u I5- 
TiTiNJi SIMILAR oiTHAorj FOH THK FfTUHE f' What is it but throwing the rein fixely upon 
tlir neck of the disorderly — ' crv ing havot-, and letting slip the dogs ol' war ?' 

*' Did not these men know that the fel(His and rohbei-s engaged in the riot at I'eimsv Uania Hall, 
would regani the * Itejioit ' as a triumphant justification of their outnige — that it would win ap- 
plaus4-s in the dens of midnight debauchery — at the titble of the gamester — and around the filthy 
rrct-ptatlei of lic|uid |ioisoii P They have left it lor the mob to decide when and how the ' moral 
»ei »e of the eominunity ' is outmgcd ; and where and how tliey are to apiK-ar as tlie conservators 
of ' the eslablishetl orders of sfjciely.' 1( is • the w inking of authority ' at the open violation of 
law — an »|>oli>jy fix- airoeious crime — a declaration under the sign manual of the sworn guaniians 
of liic public |x lice, lliat the |m<sI outrages are excusable, and that future ours may be pei'iicli'ated 
wilh iiii|Hiiiity." 

* It it true, they did not sup|io«c it |>ossible that, in this city, with its wcirthr citizens, most of 
wriiom are the Iririidi of unler anti of I jiw, with its Mayor, itnd his one hundreil and sixty |Kilice 
men, the first mmI only temple of Libtrly in the naiinn, would be " |HTmitlc<l '* lobe attacke«l 
Lt a rabble from other |>jirt», or distmyi-d by inceiidiarii-s from other states. 

•|- 'llie fact is, tin- nn»l> as«-mbKd «iiHy in the evening, an<l diil not dispt-nw until after 10 o'clock. 
Tlic moment a dcmonstnilioci of their inteiiliim was ma<Io, the Mayor wiis s«iit for. '1 Ik- I'olic*" 
Committee say, llie .l/ayor intt ubirni itl ihf iimr, as if thnt was a sufTicieiit justification for a 
vigilant offio-r, who although In- lii-artl of it, om toott a$ he could be found, did not pixiceetl to- 
vcrdt the scene iil' Bcti<Mi, till all u^.i af^iiin quiet, and the moh hiul ilispened, so tliat for ni-arly 
two iKMirt, more tluin two thousand r\'*|M-ctuble women were cxixmumI to the insults of a Inwiesa 
n»ol», simI the lives niitl pnj|i«Tty of citiaens in ilangrr, and yet the .Major was not in his office; ho 
"wa» imk to Iw futiitd " M»y we, as cittzefM coiitriliuting tnwartis his salarv, ask where he was' 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 183 

nesday,) that notice was sent to the Mayor's office, that his presence was re- 
quired to quell a disturbance at the door. The Mayor was not at his office, 
but as soon as lie could be found, and heard of it, he was proceeding to it 
when he ascertained that all was again quiet ; the assemblage had dispersed. 
He was informed that stones had been thrown at the buihUng, and that the 
people assembled there were much excited. The Committee have heard, (but 
not having been able to trace the report to any responsible source, they refrain 
from repeating tlie expressions,; that those who were in the building made 
use of very indiscreet and intemperate language, greatly calculated to in' 
crease the irritation. The person to whom this is chiefly ascribed, is one 
of those strangers, who, unconnected with our city and its institutions, came 
here merely for the purpose of participating in this dedication. It appears 
from a letter addressed to the Mayor, (see Appendix I.) by the President of 
the Board of Managers, that while "the Female Anti-Slavery Society were 
holding a public meeting," and " whilst Angelina E. Grimke Weld, of South 
Carolina, was addressing the meeting," the " house was assaulted by a ruth- 
less mob, who broke the windows, alarmed the women, and disturbed the 
meeting very much by yelling, stamping, and throwing brickbats and other 
missiles through the windows." But the disturbance did not last long ; the 
crowd soon dispersed, and all was again quiet. It appears that the Mayor 
being absent, and the police force being at that time extremely weak there,* 
(as no disturbance had been anticipated,) it was thought expedient by the 
City Solicitor to suggest to the police officers not to make arrests of persons 
at that time, as an attempt to carry away the prisoners might lead to a suc- 
cessful rescue, and would, even if this did not occur, so weaken the police 
force on the ground, as to prevent their checking the tendency to a riot, as 
they succeeded in doing. The Mayor was absent at the time, and the ad- 
vice of the City Solicitor was not only well meant, but has been considered 
by many who were on the spot, to have been the most judicious measure 
which, under existing circumstances, could be adopted to prevent greater 
destruction to the building, or injury to the large crowd which was assem- 
bled in it ; many of whom were colored people, indiscriminately seated 
with the white, and whose lives it was a great object to secure from the vio- 
lence of the mob. 

On the morning of the 17lh, an interview took place between the Mayor 
and a committee of the Managers, who delivered to him the letter marked 
I. In that letter, and in the interview, the Committee expressed the inten- 
tion of the Managers to hold meetings, morning, noon, and evening, of the 
" Female Convention of American Women," of the " Free Produce Con- 
vention," of the " Methodist Anti-Slavery Society," and of the Stale Anti- 
Slavery Society," and to continue to meet in their building from time to time, 
as occasion may require, and they add : 

"And we call upon thee, as Chief Magistrate of the city, to protect us 
and our property, in the exercise of our Constitutional rights, peaceably to 
assemble and discuss any subject of general interest." 

This interview led to no satisfactory result. Both the parties that met, 
had no doubt the same great object at heart, that the peace of the city should 
not be broken; but their mode of arriving at this result was diffijrent; the 
Committee wished their meetings to continue uninterrupted ; and the Mayor, 
believing that those meetings were the causes of the past as well as the 
anticipated disturbances, was anxious to dissuade them from further adding 
to the excitement which already existed ; and he was particularly desirous 
that they should forego their evening meetings. He told them that the po- 

* Shame, sliame 



184 APPENDIX. 

lice force was very small ; thai during the day he could put down almost 
any disturbance, but that afltr nii^/tl his power was verij much impaired ; 
that at night disturbances were more diflicult to quell ; and he would give 
them no assurance that if they persisted in their elTorts to hold evening 
meetings, the police was able to alTord to them an adequate and effective 
protection. But he promised that he would do all in his power; that he 
would attend in the evening, and endeavor by addressing the crowd to in- 
duce them to disperse; at any rate he would be with them, and give them 
all the assistance in his power. 

As their nieeling was to be at 8 o'clock, he summoned the police force to 
be at his quarters at an early hour ; he requested some active citizens, whose 
courage and firmness were known to him, to meet him also there; he con- 
tulted with some of his most Judicious friends as to the state of affairs ; and 
he used every exertion during the day to produce indirectly upon tl)e Ma- 
nagers a favorable influence, that sliould convince them of the necessity of 
closing their Hall in the evening. 

The powers of the Mayor to guard against the commission of crime, or 
to arrest those who meditate the execution of it, are indeed very limited. 
He has power to secure an offender ; he may watch a suspected individual, 
but until an actual breach of the peace occurs, his authority is very restrict- 
ed, and he must needs use it with great caution and prudence. Were our 
preventive police invested with greater powers, our city might have been 
spared the deep mortification of the events of that night. In other coun- 
tries where the arm of the magistrate is strong, not only to arrest the offend- 
er, but also to anticipate the perpetration of crime, and even to interfere 
(when occasion justifies it,) to prevent the recurrence of those causes which 
may incite others to it, an event like the recent one can readily be prevented. 
There the magistrate would have had aitthority to close thk DriLPiNO ; 
he might have placed a military force around it, and have guarded all the 
avenues to it; he might by a military force have dispersed the first nucleus 
of a mob ; but such harsh measures are as inconsistent with the spirit of our 
people, and the genius of our institutions, as they are with the letter of our 
laws. With us, however, such powers have never yet been required ; aU 
though our police has but a very limited pliysical power, there is in the well 
directed intluence of public opinion, a moral force which has heretofore al- 
ways sufficed to preserve the public peace. This system, the happiest, 
sounilest, and best of all, can continue only so long as there continues to be, 
on the part of individuals, a disposition to respect and sibmit to public 
OPINION ;• and on the part of the public at large, a keen sensibility to every 
attempt to disturb the public peace, or to encroach upon private rights. 

Had the advice of the Mayor been complied with, and an announcement 
been made at an early hour in the day that the Hall would he closed during 
the evening, it is probable that no breach of the peace would have occurred ; 
but the Managers had unfortunately adopted tlie opinion that they would not 
be justitiahle in yieliling their own wishes and plans to what they may have 
considered illil)eral prejudices on the part of the public; and that while they 
kept within the bounds of the law, they were entitled to and could not fail 
to receive adequate protection from the constituted authorities. t It does not 
belong to this Committee to express an opinion on this subject. Every in- 
dividual can and wdl judge for himself of the propriety and expediency of 
the course adopted by the Managers. 

• If, ■* tlic Mayor my*, " poblie opinion mAkct moK»,'' how long will it be brfor* molx matwe 
p«iblic ojiinion ' 

■f If ihry did, th*y *er« wofully mittaken. 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 185 

The Mayor was waited upon in the course of the afternoon by several 
gentlemen, interested in or connecled with the Pennsylvania Hall, to all of 
whom he repeated his wishes. After 6 o'clock in the evening, two of those 
gentlemen expressed their concurrence in his views,* and promised to urge 
the matter with their friends. They left his office to consult with their 
friends ; and subsequently returned with an invitation to the Mayor to come 
up to the Hall and confer with them. He went up accompanied by a few 
of his friends, among whom was Captain Thomas Hayes, whose assistance 
and co-operation in the evening the Mayor had that morning solicited. In 
the assemblage which they found in front of the Hall, he saw a man ha- 
ranguing the crowd, and exciting them against the abolitionists. The May- 
or seized the speaker, and removed him from the scene of excitement. He 
then entered the building where the Managers were assembled ; and one or 
more of his friends followed him in. A long and somewhat doubtful con- 
sultation took place among them. They asked whether he, as Mayor of 
the city, would require of them tiO close their Hall. He disclaimed this 
intention, telling tiiem that he had no authority to require this from them, 
or he loould have done so at a much earlier hour of the day. He could not 
compel, but he would advise the adoption of that course. At last, they all 
assented to the proposition, and accompanied him to the front door of the 
Hall ; where, in a short but emphatic address,t he informed the crowd 
around it tliat the Managers had agreed not to open their Hall that evening, 
but to place their keys in his hands ; and by every consideration which the 
subject and the occasion could prompt, he urged them to desist from all il- 
legal acts, and to disperse and return to their homes. The crowd consisted 
then of about three hundred persons, very young men, chiejly hoys and 
striplings, and some respectable persons attracted there by curiosity .J No 
signs of violence ivere manifested by them; and at the close of his address, 
they applauded his views, gave him three cheers, clapped their hands, and 
expressed their acquiescence in his wishes. Tlie Committee have felt 
anxious to fix the precise time at which this circumstance occurred ; and from 
the concurrent information of many, they think it must have been shortly 
after sunset, or at or about a quarter after 7 o'clock. The Mayor then re- 
turned to his office, and the crowd for the most part followed him. He di- 
rected some of his friends to remain at or near the building, to watch the 
movements of the people there; to communicate to all the arrangement that 
had been made ; and to urge upon all to retire at once. 

He desired also the Managers to disperse their own friends ; to station 
persons on the leading avenues to the building, to inform those that were 
coming that the Hall ivas closed, and to prevent their approaching it ; and 
he particularly urged the expediency that their invited guests, and the co- 
lored people chiefly, should be earnestly advised not to come near to it. 

It has been stated in a publication, that " the Mayor received the keys," 
(of the Hall,) " put them in his pocket, and went down to his office." The 
Mayor has positively denied having received them at that time, and the Com- 
mittee, anxious to ascertain the exact statement of fact, have made further 

* Neither the Managers, nor any persons authorized by them, did concur with the Mayor in 
his views in relation to this matter, so far as such views have been made known to us; we think 
they were as erroneous, as his conduct was puerile and cowardly. 

•j" Tills " emphatic address" of the Mayor to '' his police," the peaceable little mob of " three 
hundred" " very young men, chiefly boys and striplings," will be found at page l40. 

i The Mayor has one hundred and sixty watchmen, besides a large number of scavengers and 
workmen, all of whom he had a right to call upon, — and yet could not disperse this little mob of 
peaceable little boys! 

24 



186 APPENDIX. 

inquiries, which have led to ihe following information. When the arrange- 
ment was made in the building with the Managers, the keys were not at 
hand ; they are supposed to have been in the care of one of the two watch- 
nien in the service of the Managers. After the Mayor had left the spot, the 
two genilemen whom he hud charged to remain there to watch the crowd, 
(Captain 'i'homas Hayes, and Mr. Olmsted, the City Solicitor,) were ac- 
costed in the street, (near the corner of Mulberry and Sixth streets,) Ay 3/r. 
Jiurry, (the silent watchman, whose family were to be accommodated in 
\\\e \\:)\\,) who toidered to them the keys. Captain Ilayea RECEIVED 
TilEM, arid told Mr. Olmsted that he would take them doirn to the Mayor. 
Mr. Barry informed him that the keeper of the Hall was locked up in the 
building ; there were five keys handed to him, four iron ones, which he sup- 
posts were the keys of the front stores, and one brass one, which he thinks 
was the key of the main entrance to the building; he went to the office of 
the Mayor, u-ho had not arrived there. About ten minutes after Captain 
Haves had been there, the Mayor came in ; Captain Hayes pointed to the 
four iron kevs lai/ing i/pon his oflice tahh, and told him, that as the keeper 
was locked up in the Hall, he would keep the brass key to relieve him in 
case of need. The Mai/or assc?ited to this proposition. Neither then, nor 
at any lime since, has he ever had the he ij of the main door. Captain Hayes 
has always retained it, and has it yet in his possession. Captain Hayes 
informed the Mayor, that when he left the Hall all was quiet. They rc- 
mained together at the office. It was then quite dark. The Mayor began 
to entertain a lively hope that all would pass off quietly, and that late as 
was the hour at which the arrangement for closing the Hall had been adopt- 
ed, it mijiht still prove sufllcient to save the building from attack. 

Soon afterwards, however, messengers arrived with information that the 
crowd was gathering ; atid that large collections of persons coming in from 
the northern districts had reinforced the mob. Mr. Olmsted came in, and 
stated that they had commenced an attack on the Hall, and that all the pub- 
lic lights in the neighborhood had been extinguished. Others came in 
with information that they were battering down the doors. The Mayor in- 
stantly rang his bell, ordered his men to form on Fifth street,* and marched 
with them with all speed up I'iflh to Cherry street, and up Cherry towards 
the building; finding, however, the crowd very dense in Cherry street, and 
believing that their assistance would be mere clVectual if they could come up 
in front of the Hall, he turned back by the advice of his friends, to get into 
Cresson's alley, which is directly opposite to it. Taking in his hands a 
watchman's rattle, he directed his party to keep together, and as he ap- 
proached the crowd, he .sprang the rattle, and his men all shouted out at 
once to " support the Mayor." The crowd opened, and he passed wiih the 
police men through it, until he approached the building, where the work of 
destructitin was making rapid progress. He then exclaimed to the crowd: 
•• Shame ! is there nobody here to support the Iaw?"t No answer was given; 
for the first time certainly since the foundation of our city, the voice of her 
Chief Magistrate called upon his fellow citizens for assistance in support of 
the law, without receiving a hearty and encouraging respond. It was evi- 
dent that those who were bent on evil were in force and resolute; and that 
the thousands who surrounded them looked on with deep interest, but with 
no desire to arrest the progress of destruction. 'I'he mob began to close 
upon the police, and to assail them. Several were knocked down; among 
these Mr. Miles, a very stout police oflicer, was knocked down and so se- 

• W'Uy «M tliii not donr tx-forc, whrti tho pruwablr little mob of" llin'o liiindrcd " " bormnd 
itripliiiKs " »irc iIkto i)|ipli«ii(rn>(; tlicir raluint M;«vor' 

■\ Not even a Major — a poller officer — or « jwilicc committee .' 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 187 

verely bruised, that his life was at one time believed to be in danger. Not 
an arm was raised, not a voice in that large assemblage was heard in sup- 
port of the city authorities. Heretofore the cry of " support the Mayor" 
had always raised, as it were, instantaneously a powerful auxiliary force 
from among the bystanders. It seemed now of no avail. The Mayor might 
undoubtedly have continued with his few, faithful police officers, to make 
fight against the thousands that surrounded him. But what eflect could it 
have had? could he have saved the building? could the few have checked 
the work of the many? When abandoned by all who might have assisted 
him, when his voice had lost its wonted influence, it seemed to him evident 
that any exertions to continue the struggle on his part, could not have saved 
the Hall, but would have ended in the annihilation of his small party. The 
contest appeared to him too unequal, and the Mayor did not deem it his 
duty to prolong it.* 

The only persons that succeeded in entering into the building were Cap- 
tain Hayes, and Mr. Miller of the police. They became separated from 
the Mayor in the crowd, and pushing for the entrance of the Hall, they pe- 
netrated with considerable difficulty through its dark passages. They found 
the doors at the head of the stairs locked; and being foiled in their attempt 
to proceed in that direction, they went out of the building, turned up Haines' 
street, and entered the Hall by the back door; they made their way to the 
room up stairs, where three fires had already been kindled. Those who 
were in the building are supposed to have retired by one of the staircases, 
while Captain Hayes and Mr. Miller ascended the other ; but tCT" FIND- 
ING HOW FEW HAD GONE UP, they RETURNED to the room, 
and addressing Captain Hayes by name, they advised him to withdraw. He 
refused to do so, and was putting out the fires, when he was seized by one 
of them, who gave him a sudden jerk, and threw him down. Mr. Miller 
was served in the same way. There were in the room, as he supposes, from 
twelve to twenty persons! — they were neither disguised nor disfigured, but 
Captain Hayes did not recognise among them any one that he knew, though 
he himself seemed to be known to them. Their treatment of him indicated 
that while they did not wish to do him harm, they were resolved not to be in- 
terfered with in the object they had undertaken. Captain Hayes and Mr. 
Miller, finding themselves unsupported by their friends, and overpowered by 
numbers, reluctantly withdrew from the building. 

On going into the street, they saw the engines playing on the property 
adjoining to the Hall, and they heard many in the crowd directing the fire 
companies not to play upon the Hall itself, or else that their engines and 
hose would be destroyed. 

Perhaps no circumstance so powerfully displays the extent of the feeling 
which prevailed in the immense assemblage, as the fact that the firemen, 
whose zeal and undaunted courage have long been the boast of our city, 
were, for the first time within our remembrance, prevented from lending 
their aid to rescue the Hall from conflagration. Had they been permitted 
to play upon it, they probably might have saved it, as they saved all the 
property that adjoined it; but the deep excitement which pervaded the mob 
was made manifest in the control which they exercised over the efforts of 
the fire companies. 

Such is, as far as the Committee have been able to ascertain, and, as they 

* " Discretion is the better part of valor." For 

" He who fights and runs away 

May live to fight another day. 

But he who is in battle slain 

Shall never rise to fight again." 
f Quite an overmatch for tlie Mayor and his " one hundred and sixty men!" 



188 APPENDIX. 

firmly believe, a brief sketch of tlie "circumstances attending and connected 
wiih ihe destruction of Pennsylvania Hall." 

The building, which seemed doomed to destruction, was bnrnt down in 
the presence of thousands of our citizens, without a sin<sle arm being raised 
in its defence, save that of the Mayor and of his faithful followers. Had the 
gallant and daring spirit, with which Captain Hayes volunteered his ser- 
vices, been imitated but by one-twcniieth part of that assemblage, the riot 
would undoubtedly have been quelled and the building saved. But no one, 
n- ithcr the friends of the building," nor the friends of order in general,! 
yielded any ass*istance on the occasion. Perhaps, if but a single effort had 
been madt^ to support the police; if a solitary voice had been heard to re- 
spond to the cry of " support the Mayor," that voice, however feeble, might 
have been re-echoed from other parts of the crowd, so as at last to give to 
public authority the semblance of force. 

Of the subsequent distur'nances alluded to in the resolution of Councils, 
a more satisfactory account can be given. 

The deep excitement, produced by the events of the 17th, could not sub- 
side at once. Angry and turbulent spirits, who fancied they saw in the de- 
struction of the Hall a warrant for further disturbances, attempted to conti- 
nue their lawless outrages on subsequent nights. But they soon found that 
the city authorities, though overmatched on one night, were not annihilated. 
Public opinion, returning to its former healthy state, restored to the police 
that confidence and that force which it should never hare lost. The active 
exertions of the Mayor, the Recorder, and other city authorities, seconded 
by the zealous and fearless co-operation of manv good citizens, succeeded 
in at once quelling every attempt to raise other riots : and the Committee 
have pleasure in stating that they are advised, on the best authority, that in 
no instance after that, was there any j)roperty of any amount destroyed, or 
person injured, within the corporate limits of the city. 

Mnny arrests have been made of persons suspected of a participation in 
the riot, and while they are awaiting their trial, the Committee feel it a duty 
not to attempt to particularize the names of the parties implicated, or the 
charges iirouglil against them. 

Tlic Mayor received from some of those who were connected with the 
Hall, letters requesting his assistance in the protection of their individual 
properly; as appears from the documents K, L, and M, hereto annexed. 

The Committee express no opinion as to the rights of individuals to "de- 
cline any attempt to protect the properly" they own ; and, while they call 
upon the public authorities to lend assistance, to withdraw themselves all 
support from those authorities. 

It is sutlicient to state, that whatever fears the writers of those letters may 
have entertained, and however unwilling they may have been to co-operate 
in the protection of their own property, no injury was done to it. The city 
authorities, assisted by numberless good citizens, protected them most effi- 
ciently. A few resolute and well armed police officers, stationed in Mr. 
Webb's house, were found sufficient to secure it against anv injury. 

In conclusion, the (^oinmittee beg leave to add, that it was a melancholy 
ni'^ht for the city of Philadtlphin, and that it must ever he the source of 
mortifying recollections to her citizens, that her heretofore spotless charac- 

* \or llic Mayor, iior the police, nor tin- City Solicitor, i»or the police coinroittcc, nor iiny 
mfnjl)or of the Council, nor any oilu-r ofTiccr of the city ! 

'\ The Mayor had pre\ iouilt '' ilcsirtil llic Mana^-rs lo fli»pcr»c llicir own friends ; to slulion 
pcrMHi* on the lending avenues to tlic buildiiif;, to iiit'orm those thxt were comint^ tliat the ilall 
ua« cloM-il, and to prevent their appmuching it," Kc. so tltat tiiis insinualiun comes with a l)ad 
grvrr front the Max or cr his official ndviscn. 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 189 

ler should have received so deep a stain. It should be to all good citizens 
a solemn warning, never, on any account and hy miy provocation., to permit 
the majesty of the law to be trampled under foot hy violent and reckless hu 
dividuals. However excusable the excitement may ever appear to be, it 
can never be tolerated without jeoparding our dearest and most valuable 
rights. He that remains neutral on an occasion of this kind, may he con- 
sidered as taking part with the enemies of the law. The mere admission 
of the principle, that good may flow out of evil, and that the impurities of 
the social or political atmosphere can be removed by the storms of popular 
turbulence, is the first downward step in the course of moral and civil de- 
gradation. We hold our liberties and our rights indeed by the most preca- 
rious of all tenures, if the acts of a mob can receive any countenance from 
any good citizen. When, instead of the cold and impartial trial which the law 
provides, we admit that the populace may in any case be permitted to exer- 
cise their tremendous power, to punish what they deem guilt or indiscre- 
tion, what security remains ? They become not only the executioners, but 
the prosecutors, the witnesses, and the judges. Admitting that on this oc- 
casion, any of the reports of indiscreet or unpatriotic speeches, ascribed to 
some of the persons who spoke in the Hall, were true, (and it is but justice 
to say they have been most positively denied,) what evidence had the mob 
that they had been uttered ? or what propriety was there in involving, in in- 
discriminate destruction, the property of those who perhaps never counte- 
nanced or approved of such speeches ? It was a most fortunate circum- 
stance, (and perhaps the only one in the dark drama which we may contem- 
plate with some satisfaction,) that no lives were lost, and no person seriously 
wounded. But was this the result of any kind consideration on the part of 
the rioters 1 Had the Managers persevered, (as until after sunset they seemed 
determined to do,) in holding their meeting ; and had the assault been made 
when some two or three thousand persons were gathered in the Hall, the 
fate of the building would probably, have been the same ;*and the mind shud- 
ders at the contemplation of the number of human beings whose remains 
would have been buried under the burning ruins of the Hall. What would 
have been the feelings of the Managers in such a case? how could they have 
justified their persevering firmness of purpose? what would have been the 
feelings of the active perpetrators in that outrage, when the morrow's sun 
would have lighted the scene of their devastation ? what would then have 
been the feelings of the thousands who passively looked on this outrage, 
and withheld their active co-operation, when it was invoked by the Chief 
Magistrate of their city? Such might probably have been the result of the 
control which the mob was permitted to assume. Noic it falls upon those 
whom the voice of many has censured as indiscreet or imprudent. Another 
day, a mob influenced by this example, acting under a delusion which may 
not be easily removed, tcill assail others with even less cause, or without 
any motive whatever, save popular and misguided excitement. In one city, 
the mob assails those who are supposed to be hoarding up flour, so as to en- 
hance its price. In another, persons supposed to be connected in some ne- 
farious scheme of banking, are without proof or trial involved in danger and 
ruin. In another city, some unoff'ending females, worshipping their God 
after the manner of their fathers, see their sanctuary invaded by a ruthless 
mob, and only secure their lives by fleeing at the midnight hour, from the 
crumbling ruins of their once happy and peaceful retirement. Such have 
been the effects of mobs within a few years, in cities but little distant from 
ours. Our own city has followed the baneful example, and unless public 
opinion shall recover its healthy tone, and our citizens with one heart and one 

* Would probably not have been the same. 



190 APPENDIX. 

hand, unite in vindicating and asserting the supremacy of the law, it is easy 
to foresee that we shall soon have only to choose between the extremes of 
that insecurity of life and property which flows from the government of a 
mob, or the more degrading state of security to both, obtained by the sacri- 
fice of civil liberty. 

John .S. Warnkr, Chairman. 

A. Fergison, 

George Handy, 

Isaac Elliott, 

John P. AVetherill, 

J. L. Fenimore. 



Committee on Police. 



July -4 J, 1838. 

APPENDIX. 



Copy of a letter addressed by John S. Warner, Chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Police, 

To Daniel .Yeall, Ksq., Presitlcnt of llie Ko;trd of Managers of Pennsvlvaiiia Hall : 

Sir, — You will see from the enclosed Preamble and Hesolulion that the 
Police Comniiilee are required to examine into and report to Councils upon 
the subject of the destruction of tiie Pennsylvania Hall on the nifflit of the 
ITlh of May last. I am instructed by the Committee to make this coramu- 
nicaiion, and to inform you that tliey will meet for that purpose on the 6th 
in.'<tant, and if you hare any communication to make on the subject, to ad- 
dress Your obedient servant, 

(Signed,) John S. Warner, 

Chairman of Committee on Police. 
[Enclosing a copy of the Preamble and Resolutions passed by Councils.] 

B. 

Phihuh'lphia, Sixth month 5th, 1838. 

To John S. ffarntr, Chairman of llic Committee on Police: 

Esteemed Friend, — Thy letter without date, enclosing a Resolution of 
Councils dated the 31st ultimo, requesting the Police Committee to investi- 
gate and report the circumstances attending the destruction of the Penn- 
sylvania Hall, was this day received and laid before our Board of Managers 
with all practicable speed. 

Thy letter mentions, said Committee will moot on the 0th instant, (to- 
morrow.) but docs not state when or where; and adds, if we have any com- 
munication to make in relation tlieroto we might address the same to thee. 

In answer to your unexpected and unsolicited invitation, I am instructed 
by the Managers to say, we are in possession of much information in rela- 
tion to the matter alludod to, which we would lie willing to communicate, if 
it be the request of Councils, or of the respectable Committee of which thou 
art Chairman: but as it would be of considerable length, the few hours al- 
lowed by you will be too short a period to prepare it. If, therefore, you 
wish to obtain the information, we must ask you to allow us a few days for 
that purpose, of which you will please to inform us. 

Believing the information we possess out^ht to be laid before the public, 
we are preparing a statement, containing as far as practicable all that was 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 191 

said or done in our Hall during the brief period of its existence, and also the 
circumstances attending its destruction, in order that our fellow citizens may 
see that we did not deserve the treatment we received from the mob, and 
that we (lid deserve that protection from the city authorities which we did 
7iot receive. Respectfully thine, &c., 

Daniel Neall, 
President of Board of Managers of P. Hall. 

C. 

Copy of a letter from Johji S. Warner, Chairman of the Committee on 
Police:* 

Philadelphia, June 7th, 1838. 

To Daniel Neall, Esq.: 

Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 5th instant, in reply to mine of the 4th 
instant, was duly received yesterday morning the 6th instant, and was laid 
before the Committee last evening ; by whom I am instructed to communi- 
cate the following Resolution. 

'' Resolved, That when this Committee adjourns, we adjourn to meet in 
the Chamber of the Select Council, at 8 o'clock on Friday evening next, 
8ih instant, and that the Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall be notified that 
they may attend in person or by attorney, to make such charges or allega- 
tions as they may think fit." 

I have the honor to be, yours, &c., 

(Signed,) John S. Warner, 
Chairman of the Committee on Police. 

D. 

Philadelphia, Sixth month 7th, 1838. 
[Fifth Day Noon.~\ 
To John S. IVarner, Chairman of the Committee on Police -. 

Thine of to-day is received, enclosing a Resolution of the Police Com- 
mittee, informing us that we may attend in person or by attorney, to-mor- 
roiv evening, " to make such charges or allegations as we may think pro- 
per." 

Our President is out of town, and of course we cannot get the Board of 
Managers together in time for them to make a reply to thy present commu- 
nication ; the time now allowed us is no longer than that which, we in- 
formed thee, would be too short to prepare a statement of the injuries we 
have received. 

From the Resolution of Councils, it appeared to us as though they were 
anxious to obtain information in relation to the wanton destruction of our 
property, and we felt willing to aid in any impartial investigation which they 
might wish to make ; but from thy last letter it would seem as though it was 
desired we should assume the attitude oi accusers, which is a character the 
Managers have no desire to appear in. 

If the Mayor has not done his duty, it does not lay with us to impeach 
him. And however injured we may have been, we entertain no vindictive 
feelings towards those who committed, or those who neglected to prevent 
or to suppress the riot ; — we shall leave to other men, and to a higher power 
than man, the mode and measure of redress. 

As we informed thee in our letter of the 5th instant, we shall at our ear- 
liest convenience make a full, fair, and public statement of that disgraceful 
outrage upon the constitutional right of the people, peaceably to assemble 

* See a true copy of this letter on page 177. 



192 APPENDIX. 

and to discuss any subject of general interest which they may see proper; 
and will furnish each Council with a copy. 

Respectfully, 
(Signed,) Samuel Webb. 



Cominunii-aiion from the Committee on Police, to the Managers of the Penn- 
sylvania II:dl : 

At a mettiii? of the Committee on Police, held on the 8lh of June, 1838, 
the following Kcsolution was passed : 

'^ Kcsolriil, That the Hoard of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall, be in- 
vited to attend at an adjourned meeting of this Comniitlee, lo be held on 
Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock, in the Select Council Chamber, to give to 
this Committee such evidence as they may themselves possess, or as may 
be obtained by them from others, in order to enable this Committee ' to in- 
vestigate the circumstances attending and connected with the destruction of 
Pennsylvania Hall.' " 

City Hall, June 8, 1838. 

To the Board of Managers of Pennsylvania Hall: 

frerithnun : — I am instructed by the Committee on Police of tlie Select 
and Common Councils of ilie City of Philadelphia, to forward to you a 
copy of the above licsolution, and to invite your attiinlance and lliat of any 
witnesses you may deem it desirable to adduce, in order to enable this Com- 
mittee to make the investigation referred to them ; and I am instructed to 
add, that if you deem it projjcr to be attended by your counsel on that occa- 
sion, you may also invite their attendance. The Committee will meet on 
Tuesday the 12lh instant, at 8 o'clock, P. M., in the Select Council Cham- 
ber. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. H. Keating, Secretary pro tern. 
[Addressed to Daniel JSi'eaU, Esq., President of tlie Board of Managers of Uie Pennsylvania 
Hull] 

F. 

Communication from the Committee, on Police to the Mayor of the Ciiy: 

At a meeting of the Committee on Police, held on the 8th of June, 1838, 
the fnllowinu resolution was passed. 

" Resolved, That the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia be invited to at- 
tend at an adjourned meeting of this Committee (to be held on Tuesday 
evening next at 8 o'clock, in the Select Council Chamber,) to give lo this 
Committee such evidence as he may himself possess, or as may be obtained 
by him from others, in order to enable this Committee * to investigate the 
circumstances attending and connected with the destruction of Pennsylvania 
Hall.'" 

City Hall, June 8, 1838. 

To John Stcift, Kiq., Mayor of tlio City of Philailclphia : 

Sir: — 1 am instructed by the Committee on Police of the Select and Com- 
mon Councils of the (.'ity of Philadelphia, to forward lo you a copy of the 
above Resolution, and to invite your attendance and that of any witnesses 
you may dci-m il desirable to adduce, in order to enable the Committee to 
make the investigation referred lo them ; and I am instructed to add, that if 
you deem il proper to be attended by your counsel, you may invite his at- 



RKi'ORT or Tin: police committee. 193 

tendance on the occasion. The Committee will meet on Tuesday the 12lh 
instant, at 8 o'clock, P. M,, in the Select Council Ciiamber. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. H. Keating, Secretary pro. tern. 

G. 

Philadelphia, Sixth month 12th, 1838. 

To miUam H. Keating, Secretary pro tern, of the I'olice Committee: 

Respected Friend: — Thy last communication, inviting us to furnish to 
the Committee of Councils, this evening, any information which we may 
possess in relation to the destruction of the Pennsylvania Hall, has been 
received. In our letter of the 5th instant, we stated our intention to make 
a public statement of that disgraceful outrage. Time has not permitted us 
to prepare such a document, and we may doubt whether the period has yet 
arrived when the history of the short existence and destruction of the Penn- 
sylvania Hall, would be dispassionately read and coolly decided upon. Of 
the time and manner of making such publication, we request to be permit- 
ted to judge hereafter, according to existing circumstances. 

In respect to the call for information in relation to the investigation of the 
conduct of the Mayor of the city on that occasion, we have only to repeat 
the viev)s contained in the letter of Samuel Webb, dated the 7lh instant. 
To furnish such information would involve the necessity, in justice to that 
officer, of substantiating it by witnesses, and thus we should eventually as- 
sume the office of informers and of prosecutors. This office we have not 
sought, nor do we wish to be drawn into its exercise. 

Our position is simply this: we erected a Hall for lawful objects, and 
used it only in the exercise of rights guarantied by the Constitution to all 
American citizens. We built it under the protection of the law, and trusted 
it to the protection of the law — in the heart of the city — and when we had 
been assailed by lawless force, and were threatened with its repetition, we 
surrendered it at his request into the custody of the Chief Executive officer 
of the city of Philadelphia. It was not protected, and it perished from the 
assaults of the mob and the torch of the incendiary. Whetlier the Mayor 
of the city had the means under his control to protect the property, and did 
not exert them, or was not furnished with adequate resources for that ob- 
ject, we conceive can be readily and better ascertained from other sources 
than ourselves. Respectfully thine, &c. 

(Signed,) Daniel Neall, 

President of the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall. 

H. 

To John Sxvift, Mayor: 

Esteemed Friend : — The Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall are about to 
commence the dedication of their Hall to-day. We had engaged Samuel 
Barry and Gershom Craft, (two of the silent watch,) to act as door-keepers. 
We have this moment heard that all the silent watchmen had been ordered 
by thee to repair to the State House at 4 o'clock.* We would respectfully 
ask permission for these two men to remain at the Hall, to keep the boys 
from making a noise by running in and out of the Hall during the exercises. 

Respectfully thine, &c. 
(Signed,) Samuel Webb. 

Fifth Month 14th, 1838. 

* If the Mayor thought there was no cause for alarm, why was this useless order given, unne- 
cessarily to excite the " baser sort." 

25 



I'JJ AllTMnX. 



I. 



Philadelphia, Fifth raonih 17th, 1838. 

To John Swijt, Major ot the C ily of Pliila<lt-l[>liia ; 

Esteemed Friend : — Last eveniiif^, as the Female Anti-Slavery Society 
were holding a public meeting in the Pennsylvania Hall, situated on Dela- 
ware Sixth street, between .Mulberry and Sassafras streets, whilst Angelina 
E. (irimke Weld, of South Carolina, was addressing the meeting, our house 
was assaulted by a ruthless mob, who broke our windows, alarmed the wo- 
men, and disturbed the meeting very much, by yelling, stamping, and throw- 
ing brickbats and other missiles through the windows. 

'I'he audience consisted of more than three thousand persons, a majority 
of whom were respectable and intelligent women. 

In our invitation to thee to attend the opening of our Hall, (dated the 4th 
day of the Fourth month last,) we mentioned that we should hold public meet- 
ings on the 14th, 15ih, and 16lh of this monih. We now beg leave to in- 
form thee that the Female Convention of American Women will meet in the 
saloon of the Pennsylvania Hall at 10 o'clock this morning ; the Free Pro- 
duce Convention at 2 o'clock, and the Convention of American Women at 
4 o'clock, this afternoon; and the Methodist Anti-Slavery Society at 8 o'clock 
this evening. To-morrow the State Anti-Slavery Society will meet at 8 
o'clock, and the Free Produce Convention at 10 o'clock, in the morning; 
the Convention of American Women will meet at I o'clock, and the Free 
Produce Convention will meet at 4 o'clock, in the afternoon ; and the Penn- 
sylvania State Anti-Slavery Society will meet at 8 o'clock in the evening; 
and we shall continue to meet in our building from time to time, as occasion 
may require; and we call upon thee as Chief Magistrate of the city, to pro- 
tect us and our property, in the exercise of our constitutional right peace- 
ably to assemble and discuss any subject of general interest. 
Respectfully thine, <S:c. 

Signed by direction of the IJoard of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hall 
Association. 

(Signed,) Daniel Neall, President of the Board. 

(Altest,) William Dorsey, Secretary. 

P. S. We herewith enclose a written placard,* numbers of which were 
posted lip in various parts of the city. So far as we have seen, all appeared 
to be in the same hand writing. Our Committee will also furnish thee with 
the name of one of the ring-leaders of the mob. D. N. 

K. 

PiiiLAPELrniA, Fifth month 18lh, 1838. 
Friend John iSirifl : — I have just now been informed that my residence, 
No. 307 Mulberry street, is to be attacked by the mob this night. I there- 
fore call upon the Mayor of the city, the Aldermen and Constables, to pro- 
tect me and my property. 

(Signed,) Samuel Webb. 

Addrt-sscd — John Surift, Major of ll>c City of rhil«dcl)>iruL 

L. 

To till- J\fayor of llif C'i(y of I'liiladtlpliia: 

Sir: — The undersigned. Book and Job Printers, No 7 Carter's alley, 
having learned from many persons who have mingled among the mobo- 

* Whr did tlic Committee »u|>|ireu (liat placanl in their report? 



REPORT OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE. 195 

crats during the last two days, that our office will be the first object of at- 
tack, this evening, have deemed it proper to apprize you of the fact, inas- 
much as the city and county are responsible for the property thus destroyed. 
We ourselves decline any attempt to protect the property, which exceeds 
three thousand dollars in value. 

Respectfully, yours, 

Merrihew & GUNN. 
Saturday, May 19th, 1838. 
Addressed — Hon. John Swift, present. 

M. 

Philad., May 19, 1838. 

To the Mayor of the City: 

Sir: — Understanding that an attack by a mob has been threatened upon 
the office of the Public Ledger, situated at the corner of Dock and Second 
streets, for this evening, we consider it our duty to inform you of the appre- 
hensions numerous reports of such threats are likely to create, that you may 
take such measures as may be deemed necessary by you as a conservator of 
the public peace, to prevent an outrage of the kind. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

Swain, Abell, &l Simmons.* 
12 o'clock, M. 

Addressed to Col. John Swift, Mayor of Philadelphia, Mayor's Office. 

* In the Public Ledger of this city, for July 20, 18j8, we find the following letter to the pub- 
lishers of that paper: 

Philadelphia, July I7th, 1838. 

Gentlemen: — I received, late this evening, your note in relation to tiie observations of the Com- 
mittee on Police, to which you take exceptions, and have laid the letter before the Committee. 
We regret that any thing in the Report slioubl have appeared to you incorrect, or calculated to 
exhibit you in a position which you do not occupy. 

Anxious to report to Councils every circumstance attending and connected with, not only the 
destruction of the Pennsylvania Hall, but also with "other consequent disturbances of the peace," 
the Committee had, in reply to an application to the Mayor for information, received from him 
your letter in connection with the other two; and were tbereby led to believe (erroneously, as it 
now appears) that the apprehensions which you expressed in it, arose from j'our being in some 
measure connected with the Hall, as the authors of the other two letters were known to be. The 
statement was not intended to convey either praise or censure, this not being considered as em- 
braced within the objects of their appointment: yet as it appears to be incorrect, they regret that 
they should have fallen into this error. 

As to the second paragraph, to which 3'ou object, the Committee think that the quotation in it 
from the letter L, sufficiently connects it with that letter. The refusal expressed therein, by the 
writers of that letter, to protect their property, and the well known entire abandonment of his 
house, by the writer of the letter K, were supposed to justify the remarks as applicable to those 
letters. The Committee ever have refrained fi-om expressing an opinion, leaving the matter to 
Councils. If this silence on their part can be interpreted into censure, the Committee cheerfully 
admit (from the information contained in your letter, that you were ready to aid in tiie protec- 
tion of your property,) that you could not be liable to censure; and although none is expressed, 
yet the Committee regret tliat the sentence should have appeared to you ambiguous. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

John S. Warxer, Chairman P. C. 

From the following communication, it appears that the veracious pofice committee made an- 
other mistake. If out of three letters they have made mistakes in relation to two, of how much 
value are the statements made by such a committee ! 
To Daniel Neall, Esq. 

In the Public Ledger of July 20th, we find it stated by John S. Warner, chairman of the Police 
Committee, that the writers of the letter mai-ked " L" in the ajipendix to their " report," (mean- 
ing the undersigned,) " were known to be in some measure connected with the Hull." We 
should have felt it an honor to be " connected in some measure" with you in that noble building ; 
but we are sorry to say that the fact is not as stated by John S . Warner. Neither as individuals, 
nor as a firm, were we connected with the Hall in any other way than by giving it our best wishes 
as a building iledicated to Free Discussion. You may make what use you please of this commu- 
nication. 

Kespectfully, yours, Meurihew & Gunv. 



IOC APPENDIX. 



No. VI. 



^^'E invite attention to the following able and unanswerable review of the 
•' litport in Coiniciln^' on the lale riut in this city. It is from tlie Cincin- 
nati Daih/ (Jazetle, the leading Whig paper of the Great West ; and from 
the pen ol its learntd and inllueiilial editor, Charlks Hammond, Esq. It is 
not the production of an abolilioiiist, or of one personally interested in the 
Penn^iyivania Hall, but of a disiiiicresied cilizen of another state, a profound 
and iiiitliigenl lawyer, examining the Keport on ils merits, and apart from 
the exciiing iniluenfcs of tiiis locality, — ihe impartial and delii)erate judg- 
ment of an honest and high-minded man, whose integrity was never im- 
peached. 

(Prom tlic Cincinnati Diiilv Guzi-tlc. ) 

The Committee ap|iointed in May last, " to investigate and report to the 
Councils ilie cin-umslanccs attending ami connected with the destruction of 
Pennsylvania Hall," made their report, of date July 2d. Nothing has been 
elicited to vary the character of that outrage as already presented to the 
public. Its daring enormity, and the humiliating imbecility of the police 
are left in full exposure. The willingness of the citizens to countenance the 
mob is distinctly asserted, and put forth as an apology for the police. And 
even an apidogy is attempted for the citizens themselves. Taking the re- 
port as a whole, it is a document of mischievous tendency. It is to be re- 
gretted that the inquir}' was commenced. Indeed, it seemed at its origin to 
be a forlorn eflort — a hopeless attempt to do something in a desperate case, 
that mijiht efface a portion of the degradation attached to it. 

It is lamentable that we should lind, in this report, a resort to the vicious, 
shallow, nay, wukkd f.xclsk for tiik mob, that has become so common in 
the country. 'J'he provocation is industriously and prominently set out. 
And the Cominiiteeso present l\u» provocatio)i as to more than half impress 
it upon the reader, that it deserves from him a serious consideration. Here 
is their own language: 

" However deeply the Committee may deprecate and censure the existence 
of that feeling [excitement]; however impossil)le it may be for them in any 
manner to justify or excuse it, they owe it to the cause of truth to declare 
that this ej:cilC7nent, (heretofore unparalleled in our city,) was occasioned by 
the determination of the owners of that building, and of their friends, to 
persevere in openly promulgating in it doctrines repulsive to the moral sense 
of a large majority of our community, and to persist in this course against 
the advice of friends, heedless of the dangers wliich they were encountering, 
or reckless of its consequences to the peace and order of the city." 

The proposition assumed in this paragraph is alike derelict of just morals 
and sound policy. It is a violation of nature's great charter of free action and 
free disciis«ion, within the pale of municipal law, for one man to foment 
liimself into rxcilmicnt against his fellow man, upon account of doctrines 
maintained, or opinions advanced, which are forbidden by no law. The en- 
gendering of such excitoiiciit is a hot-bed crowlh of most noxious character. 
Whence can one individual derive a right to sit in judgment upon his neigh- 
bor's conversation, to condemn it, and work himself into a passion in respect 
to it, if that conversation affects no private interest ami violates no law ? 
'J'hat a man becomes excited, because another man promulgates doctrines 
disagreeable to him, proves only that the excited party is saturate of pre- 
sumptuous self-sufficiency. If under the inlluence of this r.rcjVfmr;}/ he be- 
comes furious and lawless in his conduct, and arrogantly tramples upon the 



HAiniONO's RKVIEW OF THE POLICE COMMITTEE'S REPORT. 197 

iJtuloubted rights of those aganist whom he is exasperated, do just morals 
permit that his excitement, in itself highly reprehensible, shall be alleged as 
an apology for its consequent outrage I It is but to state the proposition to 
secure for it utter condemnation. Yet this Philadelphia committee seriously 
urge this excitement as an apology for the persons who indulged it to the 
shame and disgrace of the city. That this is a departure from just morals, 
would seem too clear for controversy. 

The impolicy of suggesting an unwarranted excitement as an apology for 
a flagitious wrong, one would suppose would be palpable to every reflecting 
mind. It spreads out a mantle to be thrown over every excess, in which 
Vulgar malice and daring profligacy may be excited to engage. Every 
where, it is most impolitic to countenance such an impression. In a large 
city, bearing directly upon a case of mob violence, and coming from a nu- 
merous portion of a public body charged with preserving the peace and se- 
curing the safety of the city, it is peculiarly and especially impolitic. 

There is another matter worthy of remark, in the paragraph quoted. Is 
it true that the doctrines advocated in the Hall were " repulsive to the 
moral sense of a large majority of the community'''' of Philadelphia city? 
The Committee so assert, and the quietness with which the citizens at large 
witnessed the workings of the mob, gives countenance to the assertion. 
The question whether the doctrines promulgated and advocated, were viola- 
tive of a just moral sense, may be waived for a moment. It is enough that 
the moral sense of the citizens of Philadelphia was justly and deeply out- 
raged, by the congregation of strangersamong them, to promulgate doctrines 
repulsive to that moral sense. And such being the fact, who can controvert 
the conclusion that an impulsive and speedy movement, in arrest of such in- 
culcations, may be tacitly acquiesced in. It is an occasion for legal blindness 
and domestic silence, though not for official apologies. If such was the 
case in Philadelphia; if the Committee felt strong and clear assurance that 
the suppressed discussions were, in their very nature, morally repulsive to 
well regulated minds, there could certainly be no propriety in the vehement 
outpourings of reprobation in which the Committee indulge against the mea- 
sures taken to stay their further progress. The natural argument runs thus. 
Whatever conduct is repulsive and abhorrent to the moral sense, necessarily 
arouses indignant sensations in the mind, and with this just indignation 
arises a strong natural impulse to put down the mischief. To effect this, 
some excess may be winked at. — With this train of reasoning the Com- 
mittee work out an apology for the mob. But then immediately they shy off, 
as if startled at the foundation on which they have placed themselves. — 
This proceeding of the Committee shows that they felt the awkwardness of 
their position, in essaying to build up error upon error, grounding the whole 
upon the utterly untenable assumption, that the moral sense of the city was 
offended, justly, necessarily outraged, at the discussions in the demolished 
Hall. 

There can be no worse offensive presumption, no arrogance more in- 
tolerable than that which assumes, in this country, to set up, for itself, a 
moral sense that may revolt at opinions and discussions, acceptable to large 
masses of the entire community. Men may be offended at doctrines which 
impugn party, sectarian, and peculiar tenets, but the offence is against no 
universal moral preception. The slaveholder does not pretend that his 
moral sense is offended against the abolitionists. His excitement is roused 
because his private interest is assailed. Nor do the men of the South hold 
it fit to feel furious at the familiarities of association between the sexes of 
different colors. Individuals make their colored mistresses, openly, members 
of their domestic establishments, and seek among white persons matrimonial 



19!^ APPENDIX. 

alliances for their colored ofTsprinjSf. No moral sense feels outraged at this. 
And a strong illustration is at hand, in the fact that the individual that now 
occupies the second olfice in the government, was selected fur and chosen 
to that high station, with a full knowledge, on the part of the whole com- 
munity, that he had married as a wife his own slave, and openly sustained 
his connubial relation with her. That he had educated his daiiglilers, of 
mixed blood, in the best fashion of the country, and had secured for them 
white njen as husbands ! To this individual a very large numerical vote 
was given in Philadelphia, to place him where he now is. Where, then, 
was that moral sense which the Committee allege was justly outraged, by 
the discussions of the Hall ? Surely that was a fit occasion for its sensi- 
bilities to take the alarm. And yet tliey were all quiescent: — a fact 
warranting the conclusion, ihnt it was not an impulse of a legitimate moral 
sense, that set the mob in motion against the abolition Hall. On the contrary, 
every step of that movement is markeil by feelings, in which a just moral 
sense could have no participation. The actors were excited by vulgar 
brutality, that indulges a rooted malice against the black man's elevation in 
society: — the lookcra on were chained into inactivily by the avarice of 
trade. Cotton and sugar bereft them of moral sense, and si-bstiti'ted 

COLD AND heartless CALCULATIONS OF SOUTHERN MARKETS AND SOUTHERN 

VISITERS, In our mercantile cities, the general tone of feeling towards the 
negro is much lower than the slaveholder of character tolerates in himself. 
Its main spring is the " truck and trafiic of sordid avarice." The poet's 
exclamation is of strict application : 

"Tnulf, wcititli, aiul fasliion, will liim still to bleed, 
And lioly nicn (luotc Scripture tor the liceti." 

In asserting that the moral sense of Philadelphia revolted at the discus- 
sions in the Pennsylvania Hall, the Committee have widely mistaken the 
true state of the case. — I am persuaded that, in making this assertion, they 
were not free from an admonishing consciousness, that it was of very ques- 
tionable correctness. 

In addition to the repro!)ation expressed bv the committee against the 
owners of the Hall for persevering in the discussion, another cause of com- 
plaint is put forth against them ; they were not willing to risk their own 
persons in defence of their properly, and they have declined becoming 
accusers before the committee. Here is an instance of the ditTercnt 
mediums through which men view the saine facts, under different circum- 
stances. Had the owners of the Hall marshalled themselves in battle array 
for its defence, that fact might well have been complained of as a provoking 
intermeddlinij with the operations of the police, adding by the personal pre- 
sence of the alleged wrong-doers, additional provocation to that excited by 
the offence of the discussions. Good sense could not fail to see that such 
might be a very probable concomitant of active opposition, on the part of 
those against whom the anijer of the mob was directed. // was conse- 
quently both discreet and prudent for the owners to withdraw thcmseli'es 
from all con/liction with the assailants. If then they were properly 
absent, there can be no propriety in censuring them for that absence. 

The other fact, that the owners shrunk from becoming accusers before 
the Committee, ami declined any connexion with the investigation, is very 
easily accounted for, thouiih it is natural enough that the Committee should 
not comprehend the motive that actuated them. The report shows that the 
Committee very soon disclosed a purpose, and a prepossession to maintain it, 
adverse to the owners and manajxers of the Hall; that ptirpose was to 
aggravate whatever couhl l)e addiicfd prejudicial to the owners of the Hall, 



"* sheriff's sale of the ruins. 199 

to mitigate, at some risk, the doings of the mob, and to white- wash from all 
blame the Mayor and his assistants. The purpose glares out to my vision 
in the second communication of the Committee to the owners, and the per- 
ception of it by them made it the dictate of self-security to keep aloof. 
The report consummates this purpose in the impotent and hobbling efforts of 
untenable assumptions, broad assertions, and inferences all awry. — Its 
discolorations of principle, and its tortuous inductions of facts, shallow as 
they are, and feebly as they are presented, nevertheless have enough of 
plausibility to mislead weak and biased minds. This demonstrates the dis- 
cretion of the owners in declining to be a party to the investigation. 

The preparation and publication of this report can be productive of 
public benefit to nobody. It proceeds upon a wrong foundation— half 
advocates most dangerous notions, makes poor apologies for manifest 
neglects, and exhibits to public view, in all its helpless and naked imbecility, 
the Philadelphia police. As a strong illustration of this imbecility, one fact 
may be stated. The officers intermixed with the incendiaries in the act of 
extending the fire, surrounded with light enabling them to recognise 
every body. They did not recognise the perpetrators, nor did they 
bethink them of taking any measures for after identification!! They 
witnessed the crime — they saw, they mixed with those engaged in its 
commencement, progress and completion, and they remained in blind 
ignorance of the criminals ! There is one valuable end to which this 
report may lead. It may awaken Philadelphia to the necessity of 
new regulating her police, of infusing into its organization more power, 
and into its action more vigilance and more vigor. Scenes of frequent 
occurrence in all our cities speak, trumpet-tongued, the necessity of increased 
powers, in every department of city police. The voice must soon be heard 
and heeded ; it could not too soon attract serious attention. 



NO. VII. 

SALE OF THE RUINS OF THE HALL BY THE SHERIFF. 

An individual undertook to supply the Pennsylvania Hall Association 
with certain materials and workmanship, within a given time — the size, 
the quality, and the time, being all specified in the written contract. 

This co?itract he did not fulfil, whereby we lost much more than would 
have paid the amount claimed by him. We complained of this, from time 
to time ; but he assured us he would make such a discount from his bill as 
would satisfy all of us. This afterwards he would not do, and although we 
oflfered to leave it to the decision of three disinterested men (to be mutually 
agreed upon) he declined doing so, and commenced a suit at law. 

By a new mode of procedure under a new law, he obtained what is some- 
times called " a snapt judgment," without our being present, and without 
our knowledge. We applied to the court to open the judgment, and to allow 
us a trial by jury, but the court decided we had " no legal defence /" — con- 
sequently there appeared to be no alternative but to submit to a Sheriff's 
sale. We trust that neither the managers nor the stockholders of the Hall, 
nor the friends of the poor slave, will have any cause to regret this vain at- 
tempt to extort what is not justly due, while the declaration has herein been 
fulfilled, " He that diggeth a pit shall fall therein." 



200 APPENDIX. 



Note. — II was the intention of the Managers of the Hall to have inserted 
in this History the decision of llie Examiners appointed to award daniafres, 
together with the testimony that might be taken before them. Tiiat decision, 
however, is so long forthcoming, that it has been thought expedient to delay 
the work for it no longer. 

rhiUuhlphia, November 15lh, 1838. 

P. S. Since the foregoing work was printed, the late Sheriff has published 
a small pamphlet in vindication of the part which he acted during and sub- 
sequent to " that awful violation of the law, which occurred on the 17lh of 
May last." One paragraph in that pamphlet makes it necessary to add a 
little more of the conversation which took place between that officer and the 
committee, (see page 139.) When he said that his force consisted of only 
three men, he was reminded of his right to call upon the posse comitatus. 
He replied, " What is the use, if, when I call upon them, they will not 
comcj" He then proposed that, instead of his collecting special con- 
stables to protect the building, wc should do so for him. 'I'he committee 
told him if he would go up to the Hall at that time, a large number of citi- 
zens were collected there, from whom they had no doubt he could obtain 
five hundred men, who would willingly assist him in keeping the peace — 
that ihcy had just come from there, and that numbers had expressed their 
readiness to assist the proper officers whenever deputed. One of the com- 
mittee gave it as his opinion, tl'.at the Sheriff could obtain fifteen hundred 
citizens to assist him, if he wanted them. The Sheriff still urged upon them 
ihe providing of persons to assist him. Having previously informed him 
ihat they were not a quorum of the Board, and having no authority to bind 
it, they retired. 

CERTIFICATE. 

"The subscriber, being one of the Grand Jury, on the 17th of Fifth 
month last, was returning home from the Grand .Fury Room, when I met 
the Committee of the Managers of the P-'nnsylvania Hall, who informed me 
ihey were going to wail upon the Sheriff, and invited me to accompany 
them. I did so, and was present during the whole of that interview — it lasted 
between o>ie and two hours, during which much conversation took place 
between the Sheriff and the ('ommitlee. 

••The Sheriff, after consulting with his counsel, appeared very desirous 
that the Managers should furnish the men necessary to defend the Hall, The 
Committee ex[iressed the opinion that there were large numbers of men at 
the Hall whom the Sheriff could get, if he wanted tiiem. Hut I did not 
understand the Committee as saying or implying that they (the Committee 
or the Managers) would furnish men. The SherilT asked them to advise 
their friends to keep inside the building, and not increase the crowd on the 
pavement, to which they assented. Joseph M. Truman." 



|Cr*A. few Plates, similar to those contained in this book, have been 
printed on larger paper, suitable for framing. They may he had at the 
Anti-Slavcrv Office, No. 'Ji) N. Ninth street. 



H 70 89^ 





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